Getting Ahead of Myself: I Ordered Supplies for My Next Corset

No, I haven't finished my first one, no, I don't actually have any outfits I can wear them with, and no I can't afford it, but I can't help it.  I am so excited.  This first one is turning out so great and it is so fun.  I love it. 

 

It is still waiting fo thte last two bones.

 

I might have mentioned that the next corset will be black.

 

I chose not to have a fancy facing fabric on my first one because I didn't want to make it more complicated.  I didn't really know if I would be able to finish one.   There are a lot of steps, and some of the techniques are new.  Also, I have been emailing back and forth with Andrea at corsetmaking.com and have discovered that I could have included boning casing in the corset, even though it is not mentioned in the patter instructions.  It makes the corset last longer by protecting the coutil and lining fabric from the inside.  Usually the first thing to wear out on corsets is the boning tips wear through the fabric and make a hole and eventually poke out.  Adding boning casing will also make it a bit harder, because when you sew the layers together you have to be very careful to catch the edges along the entire channel.  I am determined to incorporate the casing into my next corset. I was going to attempt the Silverado for my second corset, but I think that because I am already adding all of the extra steps and complications, I should stick with the pattern I am familiar with.  The Dore has fewer pieces, and I never did fit the muslin so that it fully satisfied me.  I think I will work on that some more before I try to sew it. 

 

I ordered a yard each of: black coutil, black lining fabric, and black on black silk brocade.  The silk brocade is only 27 inches wide so I had to do a quick check and make sure that I would have room to cut all my pieces.

I folded black tissue paper to 13 inches by a yard and fit my pieces on.  It looks like it will fit.  I think that if I were making a larger size, though, I would have to order more than a yard.

 

The coutil and the lining fabric I used for the white corset is much wider.  I figured I can cut three corsets from one yard for both of those.

 

I also ordered two continuous rolls of spiral boning with tips so that I can cut and tip my own to the lengths I need, rather than ordering and hoping the channels turn out the same length.  I ordered an assortment of the strait bones as well for the strait channels.

 

The real reason I went ahead and ordered all of this now and not after I finished the first corset, is because my daughter is making duct tape corsets and waist cinchers with her friends and I am almost out of grommets.  I had to go ahead and order the grommets. The cost of shipping is getting so outrageous that I had to try to order everything I thought I would need for a while.  I already have enough black boning casing, black twill tape and a black lacing which I accidentally ordered with my white fabric when I made my first order of the kit and pattern.  That just leaves a 13 inch busk and black satin bias tape, which I also ordered.  With my two 11 inch boning on the way and my black corset materials ordered, all I can do is wait.  I will need to buy a tool for cutting the spiral steel boning.  I found something that will work at the hardware store, but I haven't purchased it yet.  It is called a cable cutter.  It looks just like the tool that corsetmaking.com sells, but it is bigger and beefier.  The tool that corsetmaking.com sells is out of stock a lot.  It must be hard to get ahold of.  I think the cable cutters will do nicely.  They cost about 30 dollars. Once I buy them I will post a picture.

 

I also went on a hunt for tool dip. That is what people are saying they dip the tips of their bones in, even the ones with nickle plated tips to keep them from popping off. I could only find it in black.  That would be fine for my next corset, but not for a white one.  The company that makes it also makes yellow, red, and blue. None of these colors would be perfect for a white corset.  I think if I had incorporated the boning casing it wouldn't matter. 

 

 

At the hardware store I was at I found that the same company makes a compound for patching the white vinyl coated metal racks in dishwashers and metal shelving.  It is more expensive and is in a smaller container with a brush, but it will probably work. I will try using it to patch up the poorly dipped bones that I got in my last order.

I did a google search and found that they make a kit that allows you to mix your own colors.  I can only guess that because they have a white tint to add that the compound in the container is clear.  That might be nice.  I will think about ordering this if I decide to make several more corsets after this one.

 

It turns out that the Plasti Dip company has a very large range of products that are not available at any of our local hardware stores.  I might have to order some.

 

I have to mention, also, that I have been very pleasantly surprised by the level of service I have received from Andrea at www.corsetmaking.com.  She has emailed back and forth with me several times.  First, figuring out what I needed her to replace due to the poorly dipped tips. Then she explained to me how I could cut and tip my own spiral bones. She also explained how to use the boning casing in the pattern I am sewing.  All together she read all of my emails, and responded about ten times in two days.  She was very nice and professional.  I think, if this level of service is what I can expect, I will be a loyal customer.

My Corset Supply Order Arrived on Friday

 

I couldn't believe it.  My order arrived after only three days.  I was so exited to get to work on it, but I had a few other things to do first.  My Grandpa's 80th birthday party was on Saturday and I had to help with that, so I didn't get to work on my corset until Sunday. My auntie came over and sewed her muslin while I worked on mine.  First, I had to try it on again to mark the waist for the twill tape reinforcement:

I took this picture in the mirror.  You can see that without the bones the waist puckers, but it is already a pretty shape.  I think I am going to love it.

Sewing the twill tape on is one of the harder steps of this process.  You have to be careful to make it exactly the same on both sides of the corset.  It is also hard to sew the ends of the twill tape down close to the busk and back boning channels while making a strait seam.  This seam shows though because you are sewing it onto the coutil layer before you attach the lining.

Next I sewed the lining pieces together and to the coutil pieces.  You have to turn it right side out with the busk in place after ironing the whole think.  My aunt and I decided to look into getting a tailor's ham.  Ironing all those seams open on the hip and bust curves without putting in creases is challenging. The next step was to pick stitch all of the seams to keep them from moving around while I sewed the boning channels.

Here I am stitching though the seams of both layers along every seam line.  It took me over an hour.

 

Here I am sewing along the bottom edge of the corset. 

My aunt took this picture of me sewing the boning channels from bottom to top.

 

 Here I am using a seam ripper to pick the pick stitches at the seams back out after sewing the boning channels.

 

Here are the channels.

 

Here is the work station with all the supplies getting ready to start putting in the bones.

The straight steel bones went into the channels on both sides of the grommets in the back.

 

 

  My aunt helped me by measuring them and handing me the ones I needed.  I hit a major hiccup here.  I ended up two 11" bones short.  I was unable to finish the corset because of this.  To order just these two bones (sixty cents each) I will have to pay $8.95 for shipping.  It would make sense to order other things I will need for my next corset to make the shipping feel more reasonable, but I don't have the money to get all of that stuff right now. 

 

So here is where I am at, just waiting for two 11 inch bones.

It is looking very nice.

This is the lining side.  The tracing paper and tracing wheel I used to mark the boning channels worked pretty well.  There were three channels that were pretty hard to see, but I was able to make it work.

 

This is all the bones I have left over.  I am thinking about trying to cut two of these longer ones.

 

The corset supply company, corsetmaking.com, has changed the way they do the bone tips.  They dip them in a kind of epoxy resin instead of using the metal tips that you can see on the longer ones.  In theory it seems like a good idea, but the execution might be a bit lacking.  Some of them look like this:

 

The ends that look like this do not slide well into the boning channels and I really wonder how long it will take for them to wear through the coutil.  I tried not to use these ones.  I will be stabilizing the ends of the bones with embroidery to help prevent wear, but for the amount of work and money I have invested in this corset I want it to last a long time.  I have written an email to the company.  So far, I haven't heard back.

This is a picture of my calculations and measurements for the bones I needed to order.  Next time I will at least use real paper with lines instead of a scrap piece of tissue paper.

Here I was tallying the lengths I had from the silverado kit I ordered a long time ago, and figuring out what I needed to order to make the Dore.  I ordered the white straight bones for the straight channels, I ordered extra, just in case they worked in some of the other channels.  They are very inexpensive as long as you are already ordering something else, so you don't have to pay shipping.

 

When I get the bones I need, all I have to do is sew along the top edge and sew on the bindings.  I will also embroider the boning tips to add strength and durability.  I am going to do white on white, so it won't show very much, but it will add some texture. I will let you all know what I decide to do.  I am going to the hardware store to check on tool dip, that is what people suggest using to tip the spring steel bones.