Corset - Purple Jacquard

But first I need to finish what I’ve already gotten started. Last weekend I started pulling together a new corset. It is made from beautiful purple jacquard ($20 per meter – but not too bad when you only need 80cm for a corset). Last Saturday I got all the pieces sewn together and the boning inserts added. At least this time I kind of knew what I was doing. (I learnt from my first corset that I needed to take it in over the bust so that my boobs would sit nicely into the corset – bulging at the top). Then I added all the boning casings and bound the top.



For my boning casings I just used bias binding. Sewn in the correct place and you can wedge the boning down nicely. Just have to be careful that there are not joins in the casing – it makes it awfully difficult trying to get the boning through. I also put some of the boning casings on the inside of the corset, so that I would not detract from the looks of the beautiful fabric. Then last night, I added the eyelets. I have 12 down each side on the back (I space them at about an index finger apart) and 13 down the centre front. I wanted a different look this time, instead of a busk happening I wanted lacing. I used gold eyelets – pretty against the purple. 

And then just this Friday afternoon, I finished by adding all the boning – wedging a few pieces along-side the eyelets to add stiffening. I finished by binding along the bottom of the corset and adding the lacings. I used 4 laces, lacing from the top and bottom to tie in the centre. It makes it much easier to do the tight lacing as you only have to work on half of the body at a time and it is actually closer to historical as they used to do this traditionally. In the end, I did put in a modesty panel at the front because this is the area that gets pulled in the most with the tight lacing. In the picture I didn't really tight lace the corset - there was nobody available to help with the lacing. (The front is the one with the purple lacing. I did originally want black but I could not get any. The purple is only temporary.)

Overall, I am happy with the look. But I think next time I need to add about an inch to the bottom of the corset. It’s just because I have a high waist. On standard block patterns, the corset would sit low enough at the hip. But hey, it turned out much better than my first one. And I didn’t even need to use the instructions this time.