This entry is a summary of the review video “Showing my homemade corset”. If you would like more complete information and side notes about the corset, you can watch the video on YouTube here:
| Fit, length | Drafted from Foundations Revealed pattern tutorial. It’s a longline underbust corset with a center front of about 13″ and a waist of about 23″, with an extreme hourglass silhouette. I made the ribcage a little too large so the back seams look like / instead of || |
| Material | Made out of a black/white fine herringbone weave (I call it grey because that’s how it looks from afar) with gold metallic thread as an outer layer, and one layer of down-proof cotton ticking as a strength layer, which generally doesn’t stretch, but isn’t as strong as coutil. |
| Construction | Drafted from a 5-panel pattern and constructed in the “sandwich” technique in which each layer has its panels individually assembled and then the two layers are attached at the ends, flipped right-side out and then bones are sandwiched between the layers. |
| Binding | The binding at top and bottom are made out of bias strips of the same white/black herringbone fabric. |
| Waist tape | 1-inch wide waist tape, invisibly stitched between the two layers. It’s slightly tighter than the panels of the corset which is what causes the “groove” around the waistline of the corset. |
| Modesty panel | None. |
| Busk | None, this was before I knew where to buy busks (other than the overpriced ones at anime conventions) so I made this with a closed front |
| Boning | 22 bones including the bones at the center front; I had used 1/2″ wide hoop steel for the center front and by the grommets, and 1/4″ wide flats double-boned at each seam. These particular flats were flimsy, which is how I got the silhouette without resistance to the bones. |
| Grommets | There are 24, 2-part size #X00 grommets (12 on each side), finished in gold (the only colour I could find at the time). The grommets have a small size lip around. One of the grommets later popped out at the waistline. |
| Laces | Flat cotton braided shoelace-style laces bought at Timeless Trends; 7 yards long. They grip well, have no spring and are very easy to tighten, however they do snap after about a year of regular use. |
| Price | Cost me probably around $40-$50 in materials, and around 24 hours total to make – this was my 3rd corset so I was still moving very slowly through the steps. |
Hmmm, looking at the price… and discussing with Julia of SewCurvy (about corset making kits) I should really give corset making a shot soon! I just don’t have a sewing machine and well, I am terrified at the thought of hours of handsewing…
Yeah, expect it to take you at least 4 times longer to sew a corset by hand compared to using a machine. :