Alison Smith from School of Sewing joins us as a guest on the blog:
A corset is the ultimate fitting band. It can reduce your waist easily by 5cms or more if worn regularly. I’m teaching how to draft an underbust corset this year, but let’s take a look at what a corset is, where it comes from and where it’s going.
Women’s bodies have always been restricted or bound in some respect since Minoan times (a corset-like garment was discovered in a tomb made of linen and wool). Fast forward to the Middle ages and Catherine de Medici introduced the French court to a corset that gave a tight elongated body. This style of corset, and variations of it, were popular for over two hundred years and featured a wooden ‘busk’ to give rigidity at the centre front.
The corset shapes we think of today, date from the Victoria era. With the industrial revolution the wooden busk was replaced by a steel busk and the boning which had been wood, reed or whalebone was replaced by a flattened steel spring. When the bra was developed in the early 1900’s the corset went to an underbust garment that gave an hourglass silhouette. This style of underbust corset was worn by most women until the 1960’s when the mini skirt, tights and power net type undergarments made their debut.
Corsetry today
Today corsets are still popular, whether it be for cosplay, vintage style fashion or bedroom wear. So what do we need to make a corset?
Fabric
Traditionally corsets are made from a fabric known as Coutil. This is a tightly woven cotton or poly cotton with a herringbone or jacquard weave. The fabric has little or no ‘give’ on either the warp or weft grain.
However some modern corsets are made from laminated lace, drill and specialist non stretch lingerie fabrics.
Boning
A corset should be stabilized with metal boning for strength and to reduce and contour the body. It’s normal to bone the majority of the corset with spiral steel bones that are approx. 7mm wide as the bones bend in every direction. Spiral boning is available in pre-cut lengths or can be purchased in a continuous length that is then cut to size. The back of the corset next to the eyelets is boned with white flexi steels that only bend back and forth. There are many other types of boning on the market, but they are designed primarily of underwear and special occasion wear as they don’t have the structure to contour the body.
Busk
The front of a corset, whether it be a full length corset or an underbust, may feature a busk, which is a steel hook and stud fastening.
Corsets are fun to wear when made to fit you!
In the class at the 2024 International Sewing Bee Conference, we will be making a fitting toile/muslin of an underbust corset.
Here are the supplies you will need:
For the pattern:
- Large piece of squared, or dot and cross drafting paper. Approx 50cms x 90cms
- Tracing paper
- Pencil
- Eraser
- Calculator
- Ruler
- Drafting rulers/French curves
- Tracing paper
- Paper scissors
- Tape measure
- Piece of elastic
For the toile:
- ½ metre – calico/muslin or any medium weight stable woven cotton fabric.
- 12mm tape maker (not needed if you chose rigilene/sew-through boning)
- 2.5 to 3.0 metres – Nylon boning or 12mm rigilene
- 16 – 5mm eyelets/grommets
- Eyelet/grommet setting tool
- 3 metres – 12mm tape for lacing
- Thread
- Sewing Equipment
Purchase Alison’s Kit
From Anita on the Bra Bee Team:
Amazon List
There are several different options for supplies on the Amazon shopping list for this class. You do not need all of them! It is also not an exhaustive list of the supplies for this class, it is just there to give you a jumping off point.
For example, there are two options listed for pattern paper. Choose whichever is available in your area or feel free to find something similar (even plain paper will work in a pinch!)
I listed several styles of rulers. You really only need a straight ruler and a french curve. If you are just going to get 1 french curve I recommend the 24”. The 12” curve is great for smaller curves but you can get away without it. The clover curve rulers are great for adding seam allowances but are also not necessary.
I included zip ties on the list because they make an excellent substitution for plastic boning and are easier to find. But, here are some links for more traditional boning supplies too. You can use either traditional boning or rigiline (sew-through) boning (or the zip ties).
Farthingales Plastic Boning Fathingales Woven Boning Bra and Corset Supply Plastic Boning Bra and Corset Supply Rigilene Boning
