I kid you not, a bias tape making machine.

I'm SURE there's a really good reason to spend money on a machine like this OTHER than making custom corset bindings. But I have no idea what that reason is. I personally will stick to my iron and folding gadget (one of which seems to be attached to this machine), but I still thought I should share this. Also check out the ROTARY CUTTING MACHINE.

My apologies if this has been posted before.

Hello everyone!

I just finished zooming this off to the Post. It's an outfit for a lovely woman to wear at a wedding in Thessaloniki, Greece. Apparantly there is going to be about 800 people at this wedding. Yikes!

Anyway, it is an overbust in silk moiré, which seems to be "Fabric of the Year" for my business. It's funny how everyone ignored the swatches. Only after I made something up in the fabric did people go bananas.

The colour is the coolest shade of chartreuse, which is a real bee-yatch to photograph. So if you have chartreuse-tinted glasses, I suggest you put them on to view the photos.




( More behind the cut )

hello all,
[forgive me if this is redundant, and delete if necessary, but:]

there comes a time when a girl foresees a LOT of corsets waiting to be made in her not-too-distant future.. and she positively dreads the thought of installing all those grommets by hand. yes, it's high time she invested in a proper punch/setter!

i found a good review of the tabletop scrapbook express homepro lr in the community memories. is this the same item as this tool from corsetmaking.com? the reason i ask is: i will be using the tool to set the two-part grommets and eyelets used in corsetry, but i will ALSO be using it to set four-part snap fasteners for other projects. snap setting dies are advertised alongside the corsetmaking.com tool, but not alongside the one from scrapbook express [which is $16 cheaper.]

can anyone tell me if these are the same tools, and whether or not the individually-sold dies from corsetmaking.com can be used in the tool from scrapbook express? any info or product reviews would be much-appreciated!

Hi,

Following the previous "big fashion site" thread, I found out the London College of Fashion offered a variety of short courses in the fashion field (I already booked the period corsets course). This led me to thinking, are there any other schools in Europe or USA that offer short courses (1-4 weeks)? In my country, there is only one fashion school and they have no such services. My only chance of education is taking such courses - I can't just afford studying for years in a foreign country, but leaving for a week or two is OK.
I'm interested in pattern drafting and corset making....maybe couture sewing....but I'm really into patterns most. Skill level: intermediate/advanced. I speak English, German, and French.

Any tips?

I recently made my first single layer corset. When I make corsets using two layers of coutil I wouldn't usually line them with another fabric unless requested to do so. I am wondering if it would be better to line single layer corsets though. Do people have thoughts on this? What styles of corsets do you line and what kind of fabric do you use?

hello everyone!
so after a long and what it seemed endless struggle, i managed to finish another corset for my graduation collection...



( detail pic + neck corset + drama! )

I'm looking into buying a bias tape maker for my next upcoming corset for my first client. I've fitted her corset based on my own drafted corset pattern ( huggles YWU ) and am ready to start cutting and ordering the bones and such.


Only problem is that the color for her corset is an electric pink and I've got two choices, either use the linging color or the brocade itself for making bias tape. Either way I'm going to have to make my own.

I tend to leave a 3/8 " of bias tape on the front and create it by sewing the bias tape right sides together and then finihing the inside by folding the bias tape over, pressing and then hand stitching it to the back. However I'm unsure how big to get hte tape maker. It comes in 2 inch and 1 inch (amon others) that I want to get. I can at this moment only afford one of the other. I'm leaning more towards the 2 incher because if the back piece to the bias tape gets too large (they'll be over 1 inch of fabric folder over to the lining side) I can alway tuck it in, iron it and then hand stitch it. However I'm worried this may be too bulky, but I want the raw edges tucked in as if you would have for double folded bias tape.

Any advice guys?

If this made no sense please tell me and I'll retrty to explain...my brain is a tad friend at the moment

How do you guys do a lining? I've read that you essentially make a separate corset and then attach it? I've seen some talk of loose linings, but am not sure of the difference between that and a fixed lining.

Any help would be awesome.

Just a warning that this has been x-posted to several communities and for that reason I've cut most of it so you don't have to scroll past it a hundred times if you are part of the same communities as I am :)

I am in the process of creating a really big fashion education website. The purpose is to make fashion / fashion design education accessible to home learners, hobbyists, and people who just can't afford to go to college yet.

Two things have prompted me to make this post: First of all I had the entire backbone of the website almost complete after about 50 hours of work when my host crashed big time and I lost everything. I've never lost a website before so I guess I have stopped being as diligent about backups...since I am starting from scratch I thought I would bounce some ideas off of people before I restart; and Second I do actually need assistance from other people with part of it.

If you are interested in learning more about the project, please read on:

( Read more... )

Thanks :)

Hello all :-)

I'm afraid this is quite a long business-related post as I have a dilemma today and would appreciate your opinions. Please slap my wrist if this post isn't appropriate to the community.

( Anyone with a spare minute? )

I recently finished a dusky rose (it's super pale, almost grey-rose actually) and black satin coutil overbust for a very close petite friend, and decided to make a comprehensive dress-diary this time since I so often forget to take photographs as I go. That said, I still failed to get some key images this time, and it has become more of a "musing aloud" than a "dress diary", apologies.

This corset was made at a distance using measurements provided by the model (and she did a very good job of taking her own stats considering it isn't easy!) and without a mock-up or fitting. She has a slight sway back and very small frame so it was a new challenge for me, but we did okay :-)

[x-posted to corsetry, sans construction info]

( It's very picture and text heavy people... )

Hey there, I just wanted to share my first "corset" creation with you guys. I'm more of a costume designer, so in more proper terms, I guess you'd call this a bustier, since it's only one layer of poly with plastic boning and lots of decorations... But in terms of creative stuff, I thought you guys might appreciate. :)

(For note, I work at a pirate themed restaurant, and throughout the summer we're holding Haunted Voodoo Tiki Luau parties.)

( Voodoo Corset )

Just got permission to post a corset I made last month for a client. She loves it and wears the corset over her blouses. As you can see she even wears it to class.





Here are the stats:

I am currently working on a Victorian re-enactment corset that includes quilted gores. I took detailed pictures of the gore construction and insertion and am posting them here in case anyone is interested. As with anything else in corsetry, I'm sure there are other ways to do them. Some alternatives are mentioned along the way.

( Warning: Lots and Lots of Photos and Text Under the Cut )


Close-up of the two bust gores, fully inserted. I used a close zig-zag stitch to finish the bottom edge of the gores. Other decorative stitches, flossing, or straight stitches are all options for finishing the corners of the gores.



Thanks for reading! Please let me know if you found this useful or helpful, and would like to see more demos like this in the future.

Hi guys!

I usually use steel boning for my corsets, but some circumstances have arisen where I would need my worn corset to be airport/metal detector friendly. Preferably I'd be able to wear the corset through security and on the plane, etc, rather than having to take it on and off for travel.

Obviously steel boning is out since I'll set off the metal detectors faster than ... a fast thing.

So, I was thinking of making it with plastic boning--but then I realized I've never worked with plastic before. Corsetmaking.com informed me I had different choices of plastic (Plastic bones themselves, Rigilene, Flex stays and then I've also heard use of cable ties..), and now I have no idea what I'm doing.

So, before I spend some amount of cash on plastic bones, do you guys have any recommendations? For the record, I have an ~17 hip spring, which also makes me wonder if this will actually work or not.

FTR, I did check memories and didn't find anything specifically for the various types of plastic bones.

Thoughts and input greatly appreciated! :)

Edited to add: Thank you SO MUCH for all of your advice! I will be replying as I can :)

Aloha kids!!

I just finished photographing an underbust for a long-distance order. I say "Part One of Two" because she couldn't decide which colour of the fabric she liked better. The best solution to that problem? Get 'em both! Hey - we only live once, right? I am *still* waiting for the grommets to be delivered so I can photograph Part Two.

So here is Part One - in dark green silk moiré.

( Construction details, laughable Photoshop skills, and my usual incessant yammering behind the cut )

I haven't posted anything in a long while. I've mostly been doing corsets for clients, but now I had a moment to do something for myself. I've had this lovely silk dupion for 4 or 5 years and I always knew that I want to make a corset from it. I was going to a photoshoot and made this corset day before (I hope I can post pictures from the photoshoot later).



I didn't even remember I had this black lace at home. It was quite perfect for this project. I wanted to add another strip of lace on the bottom of the corset, but I couldn't find anything nice. I may still add it one day.  Corset has steel boning (spiral and flat steels), the lining is thick cotton which I've used for years and the pattern is self drafted. Nothing too special, but I really like this one. :)

( More pictures.. )

I have found conical busks on Macculloch and Wallis, and Klein's, but they are much longer than what I need for my project, 

Does anyone know of a UK (or possibly EU) supplier of 10"  (27.5) Conical busks? 

Hi! *waves*
I haven't posted anything before, but better late than never.
I'm rather excited that I've finished this corset, and I just thought I would share a photo with you all.

There are other photos in my journal if you are interested.
Any comments or constructive critisism is welcome, so please let me know what you think!
Thank you!