Anyway, back to the corset. It is made of 4 layers of fabric; the lining, the interfacing, a peach satin and the black embroidered net over the top. The netting gave me the most trouble. As it is an embroidered fabric, when you cut it, it frays all over the place making a huge mess, and meaning I cannot sew with the fan on. (Not an advantage in the middle of summer) But after much cursing, I managed to get the corset fully put together. For the exterior boning casings I used black satin ribbon as it complimented the embroidery really well. Unfortunately, this meant that I could only use the light boning inside them. So needless to say that the corset is not really up to being tight laced. However I did not really intend it to be, as it is more designed as an exterior wear not as an undergarment. Which actually makes me glad that I did not lower the top otherwise my boobs would be hanging out indecently. One alteration I did make on the pattern was to extend the hem (me and my high waist did not work originally). So now my corset is quite a bit longer which gives me more the desired shape that I want. Though I still have to make a couple of changes – namely drop the top down a bit and taper it in at the bottom as it flares out a bit too much.
I also inserted my very first busk in the centre front. In the past I have used hook and eye tape, lacing and open end zips. I was surprised at how easily it went in. I think I had built it up in my mind as way too hard and I was very worried that it would not work. Though I have to say it was really simple, and I was happily surprised. The only addition I made to it was to stuff some heavy boning down the hole with it because it was just a little too flexible for my liking.
But I still love my corset, and am so happy about how it turned out. Though never again with the lace stuff.
