This is the project I’ve been waiting so long to tell you about (well, one of them).
It started around springtime of 2012, when I was talking with another corsetiere about effective communication between maker and client. A bespoke corsetiere is supposed to take the client’s vision and bring it to life – but sometimes, due to language barriers or other circumstances, miscommunication can happen and the end product doesn’t match the client’s vision.
My wish was to create a virtual “paper doll” game (that are so popular today on little princess websites) that applies specifically to corsetry. Length, shape of the edges, colour, fabric, boning channel options and closures would all be adjustable.
More importantly, anyone can use this – whether you’re a client or a corsetiere – to help you communicate more effectively.
It took a long time and quite a bit of money to get the project to this point – it was only August of 2012 before I actually found a program developer (J Artis) who would take on this project, and finally in November I found the perfect graphic artist (Christine) to create the doll itself. It’s been a long road, and I’m certain we will be ironing out some wrinkles (and with any luck, adding a couple more features) over time.
There are opportunities for collaboration regarding this project e.g. corsetieres can submit unique fabric swatches from their stock (which will be credited) and sponsor the project which will help keep this app going and help keep it free. The “red tiger stripe” print option is a placeholder that shows you the concept behind a print/brocade fabric underlay.
One note: although the button that says “Request a Quote” is functional, I’m not currently accepting bespoke commissions. If you intend to send this form to another corsetiere for a different commission, I would be 100% happy to forward the form to you for reference, and/or keep your selections and measurements for reference when I resume consultations.
Without further ado, I present to you the Designer. Go play!
I guess any change would have to be multiplied by the number of options that currently exist, which at this point is huge. I hope I didn’t come off as ungrateful. It’s a good to be reminded you’re a single person operation, without the resources of say, Google, behind you. And nothing ‘just magically appears’ on the internet without a ton of work going into it.
What a feat accomplishing this! I love it. Pretty spiffy. Maybe someday you can add a silhouette feature… wasp, pipestem, gentle curve, etc. Well, your fans can dream can’t we?
Hi Janina, yes we may eventually add different silhouettes but the doll is currently not optimized for that – to do that, it might require an entire reworking of the doll in the future. As it is, Christine has put up to 80 hours of work into the doll, so imagine what it would be like to do that over again for all the different silhouettes! (And what I would have to pay, lol.) But I do have it written down as a “someday” idea, in the distant future. :)
well, there it goes a few hours of my live, creating imaginary corsets! =P
Genius! It would be great if designers can buy this program to use on their site and add their own fabrics, shapes, models and the like… Easier for custom ordering indeed!
Thank you for all that contributed to making this :)
Thank you, Tinka! It means a lot to me that you think so highly of this. :)
I know this is in the beginning stages and I have a suggestion for future versions. I know there are different shapes of corsets, that give a specific shape to the torso.
It would be neat to show a corsetiere the shape you want to have above the waist. I am having fun – can you tell!
Thanks for all that you do Lucy – you have made corseting fun rather than taboo! : )
That’s totally awesome and so useful!
Hi Lucy, how neat! So helpful in seeing how it might look! Thanks for all your hard work!
Yay!! I can’t wait to play with this – Thank You!!!
I’ve just taken a look at it, and it’s amazing!! Although the options seem limited, there is a huuuuge amount of combinations you can make, and this is very, very helpful for being able to communicate with someone what your vision is. Or even for yourself, to try out different styles and combinations. The only downside is that after you select an option, it takes a few seconds (for me at least) to load the image, but that’s not something that bothers me :) I am definitely going to use this if I ever want a custom made corset (meaning custom colours), or if I’m trying to find out what style I want ^^
This is awesome!
Hi Aranka, thank you for your comment. :) Yes, the game does lag a little bit but I hope this will be sorted out eventually. The program has to re-generate a new URL and go through the right combination of choices amongst all the choices, if I understand it correctly! In any case, I’m glad it’s not too annoying for you.