I'm Chicago bound this week for three days of corset classes at Vogue Fabrics Store in Evanston Illinois, my favorite place next to the L.A. textile district. Vogue has it all...fashion fabrics, home dec, interfacing, thread, zippers, trims, buttons, tools and corset making supplies! It takes the space of what was originally 4 stores so it's big - and they have a huge on-line presence to. The corset supplies they stock are from Farthingales (in fact they are the US distributor of Farthingales product) so you know that the quality is what it should be.

The following week I'll be back in the shop and preparing for another kids sewing summer camp. This one is for kids who have taken our beginner classes and are ready to make a complete outfit! The kids are between 9 and 12 years old and they'll be making leggings, a sleeveless tunic and and infinity scarf. The camp is almost fully booked and I'm really looking forward to it.

In between times I'm working on the schedule for fall classes; including full day programs for PA Days.

And there is "The Book"...I'm still working on editing and formatting the over 20 chapters of my second corset making book. As I complete each chapter I'll be posting it to the website in the section Books>PDF Corset Books for Download some chapters are free but there is a charge for most of them as it's cost me a great deal of time and money to create the samples and write about the processes.

Farthingales will not be vendoring at any shows this fall...not even the Creativ Festival in Toronto despite having participated for the better part of 18 years! It's time to attend the show and take some classes but I'm sure we will be back in 2016 as we hope to do as many shows as possible then.

Bustles, Hoopskirts and Cages

What was under the dress?                                                              We see paintings and drawings of fashions in the past but we don't often see what was underneath the clothes helping to create the shapes which make for period defining silhouettes.                    Farthingales will be offering a free "trunk show" of structural under garments (bustles, hoop skirts, cage crinolines, panniers and farthingales) to demonstrate how dresses of the past got their shape. This "trunk show" will be held on Friday, October 25th  and Saturday, October 26th during the Creativ Festival in Toronto, Ontario.  Both events will be held at 1 p.m.                                          If  historic costumes are not really of interest then think outside the box...how could you apply these techniques to contemporary fashion? Learn about the materials and techniques used to make shapes.  Access to the demo is free with admission to the Creativ Festival where you'll find tons of stuff to see and an opportunity to purchase supplies.                                                                        

 

 

 

 

Go to www.creativfestival.ca and use Discount Code CFSAVE2 

and SAVE $2.00 on your adult or senior ticket

 

Silk and lace corset

JoAnn Zegers is making a corset for her grandaugher Emily to wear on the Corset Fashion Show runway during the Creativ Festival October 22nd.

She's layering fine black embroidered net over silk duopioni that fushia shot with black.

The plan is to pair the corset with black skinny jeans.

Corset Fashion Show Work Week

Leather Waist Cincher

Kathi Posliff has started her corset! She stenciled a pattern onto pre-cut waist cincher pieces then stiched along the pattern that she had traced onto the leather and it's under layer of gold silk.

you can see Kathi's corset and about 35 others at Farthingales Corset Fashion Show during the Creativ Festival in Toronto October 22nd.

Corset Fashion Show is THIS Friday

The Creativ Festival  starts Friday, October 22nd and runs through Sunday the 24th. Linda will be teaching corset making all day tomorrow. Setting up for the show on Thursday and THEN...it's the CORSET FASHION SHOW

The Corset Fashion Show will feature 30 corset in and incredible mix of styles and material. There will also be corsets on display at booth #838 all weekend - the display will change each day. The dress rehearsal was this past Sunday and it went smoothly - no dressing challenges despite so many corsets.

The show will be video taped and posted to Youtube, likely next week.

Tickets to get into the Creativ Festival give you admission to the fashion show to!

Black and Red Corset with fairy/butterfly wings

 Sharon Gashgarian has been on an incredible journey...of the corset making kind. A sketch for her corset is in one of my earlies blog posts.

Here you can see where Sharon has pinned her many fabrics to a dressform to get a visual for what she plans to build. I work very much the same way and ironcially I chose the same colour pallet for my corset contribution to the Creativ Festivals "Corset Fashion Show".

In this photo the corset has been sewn together and teh wings attached. The corset is not yet finished.

Sharon created the fabric from tiny bits that she sandwiched between two layers of water soluble webbing. This has created a very organic shading and patterning.

The white cages you can see at the hip is a creative version of an historic pannier.

I can't wait to see this corset on the runway.

There will be a videographer and two photographers at the show so I'll be posting pics from the show here on my blog and the video will end up on YouTube

sew be it studio

This past weekend found me teaching an amazing group of teen's how to make a corset the quick n easy way using Rye and Ginger Corset Kits corset kits. We met at 10 on Saturday morning and one of the girls finished around 4, the others weren't far behind. We faced a few delays but weren't far off our targeted finish time.

The girls chose basic black and basic white waist cincher corsets and plan to add embelishments later - but before the Corset Fashion Show - they'll be modeling their work during Farthingales Corset Fashion Show on Friday October 22nd, at the Creativ Festival

Press Release

PRESS RELEASE


Corsets From Stratford to Toronto

September 23, 2010


The Creativ Festival; one of North America’s largest sewing and crafting events, will be the venue for a very unique fashion show and exhibit: “Corsets – Fabulous Fashion Accessories” in Toronto. The subject matter is unique in it’s self but what makes this show very special is the fact that every one from the corset makers to the models are volunteers and some have never made a corset before! Over 20 people have worked both independently and together to create works of art that happen to be corsets – but not underwear. Most of these people are from the Stratford area but some are from London and Brantford and a few are from outside of Ontario.



Rita Gramsch of the Creativ Festival and Linda Sparks of Farthingales began discussion about this project shortly after last years Festival. By March of 2010 Linda was connecting with people to see if there would be enough interest to develop the corset fashion show idea and remarkably almost everyone who signed on is still with the project. Linda is the owner of Farthingales and Farthingales L.A. both of which focus on corset making supplies and corsets, but she didn’t want to design or build all the corsets. She wanted to see fresh approaches and was willing to coach anyone who needed help, though she’s found little coaching on her part has been needed as people are helping each other out. Linda comments: “It’s been a remarkable experience to see all these corsets come to life. Many of the corset makers are artists in their own rite so they’ve brought skills to the table that I don’t have and they’ve brought fresh perspective as to what a corset can be.” “No one has all the skills that this team of women & men (yes we have two) posses as a group and that’s what will make this show very one of kind. Each member of the group designed the corsets they wanted to make and they talked about their designs with me so I was sure no two projects would be similar and none are. I then advised on construction, if they needed or wanted support or I teamed them up with someone else who had the skills they didn’t.”



The diversity of interpretations of what a corset can be is exceptional because so many people are involved. There will be a fairly classic Victorian corset and petticoat look but you’ll also see corsets that appear to be knit, covered in bobbin lace (the lace is being hand made as this is written), made from hand woven fabric designed specifically piece by piece for the corset, and one will even be made from welded steel by the woman who will model it. “It’s a lot of work to organize a show of this size, we’ll have over 30 corsets on the runway and there are over 20 corset makers but it has hardly seemed like work because everyone is excited about what they’re doing and that excitement is contagious and motivating.” says Linda who is overseeing every aspect of the show. So what does she hope to gain from producing this event? “I hope that people will see corsets in a new light – let go of old perceptions of underwear and sex and see corsets as a fashion accessory and an art form. I also hope it will inspire people to sew, this show just might give young people something to aspire to since we’ll have simple corsets on the runway and incredible corsets out there to.” “I also think we representing the “Canadian Way” as this process has been the “anti-project-runway” approach, no one is competing everyone is offering ideas and construction advice when someone indicates they need help. It’s amazing what can be accomplished with a team approach,”



The Corset Fashion Show will be held at 1:00 Friday, October 22nd at the Metro Toronto Convention Center during the Creativ Festival. Some corsets will be on display during the 3 day event at booth 838. www.creativfestival.ca



Can’t get to the show? Follow it here on the blog http://farthingalescorsetblog.blogspot.com OR pick-up a copy of “A Needle Pulling Thread” a Canadian needle arts magazine where one corset’s progress is being followed in a 3 part article. http://www.aneedlepullingthread.com/





Linda Sparks

Farthingales

286 Monteith Ave.

Stratford, Ontario

N5A 2P8

PHONE: 519-275-2374

Fax: 519-275-2376

E-MAIL: Linda@farthingalesLA.com

Little Black Corset - take 3

Who says a corset can't be professional? It all depends on how you wear it. Come see many ways to wear a corset during the Corset Fashion Show at the Creativ Festival on October 22, 2010

Inspiration

Inspiration can come from many places. Karen Merriam loved the jacket and skirt in this Vogue Pattern and as she thought about the outfit she developed the idea of a corset that would complete the look - not quite the typical 3rd piece but a great idea.

All pieces are well underway and she's still got time to decide on a blouse or turtleneck.

This elegant and unique outfit can be seen at the Corset Fashion Show during the  the Creativ Festival, October 22nd

Side Opening Corset

Karen Merriam isn't just making a corset for the Corset Fashion Show at the Creativ Festival - she's making a whole suit! Jacket, skirt and corset. As a proffesional tailor Karen has lots of sewing experience but it's been awhile since she made a corset. She's used a commercial pattern for her corset but made some major modifications to it. Typically a busk goes down center front and lacing is at center back. Karen as opted to place the lacing as a design element down the left side of her corset and put the busk in the back. It means she'll be able to get into the corset with some assistance but won't have to lace it up as the lacing can be left in - it will need to be loosened to get into and out of it but not unlaced and re-laced.

To see this corset come to the Corset Fashion Show at the Creativ Festival October 22nd at the Toronto MetroConvention Center

Don't know what your looking at? These are the bound tabs at the bottom of an 18th century corset.  See the rest of the corset; made of black silk with heavily jet beaded front, at the Creativ Festival the weekend of October 22-24th. At the Toronto Metro Convention Center

An asymetrical corset

I'm making a corset for the Corset Fashion Show as well and I wanted to do something different. At first I considered and underbust lace corset with exposed bones - german plastic ones that had been dyed RED! I collected scraps of  fabric in in red and black because I wanted a very "organic" look. The more I played with the fabrics the more my vision changed and it has evolved away from a lace corset with red bones - though I may still try that - if I have time.                                                                               The pattern has morphed from an underbust to a partial over bust corset - or "Asymetrical" corset. Pictured here is just the mock-up. The actual corset is now almost finished, I've used several pieces of the black and red scraps and so that none of the panels are the same, I've made a hidden busk and am now adding beads to add just the faintest bit of glitter here and there. The corset will be paired with a black and red tulle skirt.              

To see this corset "in the flesh" come to the Creativ Festival in Toronto. The Corset Fashion Show is on Friday October 22nd, and this corset with several others will be on display all weekend.                                                                             

Corset Making Tip

There are many ways to make a corset and inumerable types or styles of corsets. A detail that had totally slipped my mind has been incorporated by Joan Scheerer. She stitched her two layers of coutil together - (note: this is vintage coutil) and as you can see in the photo she then heavily machine stitched a section above the one bone casing. This area will be under the arm when the corset is complete. The stitching ads support to the corset under the arm but keeps the bone away from the arm pit. If you're shorter than average in the torso you'll know how uncomfortable it can be to have a bone digging into your underarm!  This is a great tip!

Joan's corset will be a simple coutil Victorian shaped corset and she'll be modelling it at the Farthingales Corset Fashion Show during the Creativ Festival in Toronto on October 22, 2010 at 1:00

Corseted Ladies Suit

A buisness suit with the corset built right in! Jennie Wonnacott designed and is creating this vintage inspired suit for model Terri Dans whose short hair and glasses create an incredible professional look.                                                                                            The suit jacket is boned and features lacing up the back just like a corset, visible bone casings have been included as a design feature and the herring bone weave panels are beautifully cut to meet.      The photo is of the mock-up stage "Yes, there will be sleeves." 
The skirt is also spectacular with several panels creating a flared hem and some of the panels are bias cut.  

This is a great example of what a corset can be when we think outside the box.

You can see the finished version of this corset suit jacket at the Corset Fashion Show on Friday October 22nd at 1:00 during the Creativ Festival

Corset as Works of Art

Kathi Posliff isn't just making one corset for the Farthingales Corset Fashion Show at the Creativ Festival; she's making two! And never one to settle for the ordinary Kathi is creating her own fabric for the second one to. What you can see here are the tabs for her blue 18th Century Corset.              The stomacher of this corset is stunning and it reminded me of sun setting over the ocean. Even for those who  have no interest  in corsets will want to see Kathi's corsets as they are "Art".    

Hand woven fabric Corset

Kathi Posliff is participating in the Corset Fashion Show in October. She's never made a corset before but with guidance from fellow team members she's well on her way despite having decided to create her own fabric!

The sample at left is a small portion of her fabric. I'm not showing any more for two reasons:

Kathi's progress is being published in the Canadian publication of "A Needle Pulling Thread" magazine and to really do the garment justice you have to see it! So come out to the Corser Fashion Show at the Creativ Festival on October 22nd at 1:00
Kathi will be modeling this corset and another and this one will likely be on display at the Farthingales booth across from the runway at the Creativ Festival.

Corset for the runway

There will be over 30 corsets on the runway at the Corset Fashion show at 1:00 on Friday October 22nd during the Creativ Festival in Toronto.

This sketch illustrates the idea Sharon Gashgarian plans to execute for her daughter to model. The corset will have detachable wings painted by Sharon's neice. While the wings will create a costume fairy effect the corset will be remarkable even without them. To see the final and complete look come to the Creativ Festival http://www.csnf.com/

By Sharon Gashgarian