Saturday, April 4, 2015

Corset #4 or blankety blank swear words!

For this corset I decided to use a latex looking spandex, clear sequins, and fishnet. I also used a black cotton sateen to stabilize the spandex and colorize the sequins. While I'm learning the trade of corset making, I'm trying to use up the fabrics I have in my storage. I gave the flat felled or the welt method a second chance on this one, but I have to say that I really don't like it. The feeling of less control was even more apparent on this corset because of my fabric choices. 


My original idea was to cover all of the sequins with the fishnet, but I found that I didn't have enough. Luckily I recycle. I keep anything that I think is pretty no matter if it's out of style or has a hole in it etc. because I can always use it for something else. This black lace was an old nightie. I had enough to add a little more variety to the design and to fix my problem.


I decided to put a busk in this corset. In the past I've been omitting them to save money. I felt like the pattern on this was at least close to perfect so I felt like it wouldn't be a waste of money anymore. I put the right side in and secured the waist tape. All of my panels were prepped by fusing EK130 interfacing to the black cotton sateen and then sewing the layers of fashion fabric on top of it. 


The right side went together without a hitch, but when I got to the left side I messed up. As you can see from the picture below, I had to unpick seams and patch holes. I put the busk in the wrong way. I should have made the prongs sit close to the edge. So I sewed these up and poked new holes closer to the center front seam. The fabric was very forgiving and you can't tell that I had to do this from the front side.


I put in boning channels using the sandwich method (which I like) on the two front pieces and then set to work on getting the whole thing put together. 


When I got to the side seams I decided that I'd let panels 3 and 4 float. This was an experiment to see if I could make it less bulky in this area. I felt seamed the strength layer so that a boning channel could be placed there. With things trimmed and secured, I moved on to the next pieces. By the way, the little red threads are from sewing the strength fabric up as a mock up. It fit great so I used it for the real corset. 


The center back is what annoys me the most about this method. When you get to the end there's a raw edge and so you have to add another piece and fold it back into the inside of the corset. This created a little bubbling of the under layers because I had roll pinned the entire way through. So I have a back tab ready for grommets, but there's bulk back there because the under layer is now messed up. Pthhhh!


So far I think the design at least is pretty. With fabric like this it can look rather fetish like, ha, it does I know.


I put the bones in and secured them so they would be taught and I wouldn't have any (or minimal) horizontal wrinkling. I'm still working with a modge podge of sizes so some of them work better then others. You can tell by the way that I did these that some are longer then others.


 I put the bias on with machine, skipping over the bones like I did last time. Then going back and hand stitching the skipped parts. I folded the bias over and hand stitched it to the inside to finish it off. I then cut a strip of the latex spandex and put the black and rose lace over the top of it to make a ruffle trim. I hand tacked the ruffle onto the bias finish. 


The front side view shows a little more of what's going on here. 


With all the work done it was time to put in the grommets. Something I've learned is that you need to have an even amount of holes on each side of the corset. Example, 12 or 14 not 13 or 15. You can't lace it in the style I like, which is inverted bunny ears, if it's uneven.  So once I figured out where the holes would be, I transferred them to the  fabric. I can never mark them in the exact place they're supposed to be, but I can eyeball the middle rather well when I'm punching them out.


The Finished Corset !

What I love.....I love the way it fits, it's my most comfy to date. I love the colors and textures. I love the sequins under the lace, I'll definitely be doing that again. I love the ruffles. The bulk in the waist isn't an issue like it was in the last one. 


This corset isn't pulled to it's tightest yet, I still need to season it, but the waist reduction will be six inches.

What I'm sad about.... Oh those horrible wrinkles in the latex panels, I'm going to have to find a way to control stretchy materials if I'm going to use them in corsets. I still need to understand what's going on with the wrinkling at the waist in the middle of panels 4 and 5. It's been a problem since the beginning.  I found myself using a lot of profanity on this one. I've worked with these fabrics before so I think the frustration was mostly in the method used. I really don't like the flat felled method, goodness, I said that before didn't I? 


I'm not completely done with this yet, my new task is to come up with a way to make the wrinkling spandex look like it's apart of the design. I'll post that when I come up with a good idea.

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