Corset Making Class

Corset Making Class in December 2013

Taught by Linda Sparks

Author of “The Basics of Corset Building” 

Two day workshop will see you make a mock-up from a commercial pattern, fit it to your body, make alterations to the pattern for future use and make the mock-up into a real corset with bones and busk etc. All supplies are included in the class fee and machines are supplied. You must at least have basic sewing skills – be familiar with operating a sewing machine and bring your own tools (see through ruler, scissors for paper and fabric, pins, measuring tape, note taking materials, tracing wheel and paper, tape etc.)

 

The corset to the right is NOT the corset we will make in class...but it's something to aspire to!

 

Depending on your abilities you may not finish the corset in class time but you will know how to finish it. Depending on your abilities you may not have a corset you want to wear by the end of class but you'll have the skills to make a better one. Come and learn how to make your own corset!

When: December 7th & 8^th   

Time: 9:30 – 4:30

Where: Montreal  at  École de couture Céline Ross

 4230 Décarie Blvd. Montreal, QC H4A 3K3

 

Fee: $270.00 plus tax for a total of $305.00

 

To register e-mail Linda@farthingalesla.com with your phone number and she will call you to register you and get credit card payment. You can also opt to pay via PayPal.

Wire Mask or Head Piece

I've been experimenting with some products we have; it's a great escape from paperwork sometimes! We sell "millinery wire" a.k.a. "hat wire" in 3 different gauges but I must admit I've always found it a challenge to work with. I seem to have heavy hands and can never get a nice look as my wire ends up all wobbly. So I decided to try one of our more stable products: German Plastic Boning in the 5mm width (product number 50-8125-05). It's a narrow flat boning that can be sew to it's self or to anything else that can be sewn and it can be shaped a bit with heat from a warm iron. German Plastic boning is white to start and since I wanted black I threaded the 5mm German Plastic boning into a length of our black nylon braided lacing (the white is dyeable so I could to this in any colour) Product # 03-7176N-90. I took 2 meters of the boing and 2.5 meters of the lacing because I wanted to be able to cut lengths and close the lacing over the ends of each bone. The lacing melts with the heat of a "lighter" so I was able to seal each section of lacing over the bone which meant that the bone could not slide out and melting the ends was a lot faster than sewing would have been.

I did use a Styrofoam head to help me and I just played with the boning to create a simple shape but there seems to be limitless possibilities. The German Plastic boning does not kink like my wire did, so I found it easy to work with and the ability to pin through it into the Styrofoam head made working with it easy. I pinned all the joined sections first and then hand stitched the join. I hand stitched through the nylon braided lacing that covered the plastic boning as it was easier than sewing through the bone and it still created a secure join.

 

 

 After the shape was completed I wrapped some fine net; a soufle type net, over the section that would be in front of the eyes. Hand stitching it to the nylon braid lacing. The net is very sheer but very strong and is product number 24-5510-90 (the white version of this net is dyeable).

This head piece does not fit the Styrofoam head well but it did fit the human head that it was created for.

This was my first attempt at this type of thing and while I would do a few things differently (like not have one of the connections under the chin as it's too obvious), I'm generally happy with how easy the product were to work with and how little time it took...once I figured out what I wanted where it was only about an hour to put it together.


I've included a close-up so you can see the mesh detail

Product can be found at www.farthingalescorsetmakingsupplies.com where they sell more than just corset making supplies.

German Plastic Boning specifically can be found at: http://farthingalescorsetmakingsupplies.com/products.php?cat=plastic+bones

 

Nylon Braided Lacing specifically can be found at: http://farthingalescorsetmakingsupplies.com/products.php?cat=lacing

 

and the Fine Soufle Type Net can be found at: http://farthingalescorsetmakingsupplies.com/products.php?cat=net

Waist Cincher Corset is finished

The fabric used for this waist cincher corset is "spot broche" coutil also known as "dot coutil". It's the most durable of all coutil and I've opted to use it without any fashion fabric as it's very pretty as it is.  The bone casings are on the inside of the corset and I've bound the seam allowances to create some of them. Doing so meant there was no need for a lining. So this corset is made from just one layer of seriously strong fabric - dot coutil. Note the little pocket I added - it may seem too tiny to be of much use but it's all I need to carry a folded up bill or change.

 

I used decorative stitching to indicate some corset bone placements.  I edge stitched the seams in a contrast colour; more for a design detail than any necessity and I used a decorative stitch to secure the top binding of Petersham ribbon. The bottom edge was bound in the same Spot coutil the corset was made from. 

 

Instead of grommets I used black D-rings set w black rivets down the center back and lace the corset with nylon flat braid black lacing. The back includes a modesty panel made from the spot coutil.

All materials used can be found on the

Farthingales Corset Making Supplies web site

www.farthingalescorsetmakingsupplies.com