Making Your Own Corset?

[kellyhelene]

Your best bet, if you aren't cutting and capping the bones yourself, is to make the mock up first and then measure what lengths it needs.  The pattern won't say since the length will depend on how long your torso is an how tall you are.  Too short and you'll give yourself a bit of a roll at the top edge, too long and you will dig into your underarms.

[silvander]

I recently recieved some industrial strength cable ties/zip ties from a friend.  They are 3 ft long and 3/8" wide each.  I've heard that they make good boning material when cut and filed, but I'm not real sure how they'll hold up under pressure--I'm a big girl, both in bust and waist.  I've made a few corsets before in several styles, so I' familiar with construction, but do any of you have experience with this type of boning?  Any comments on strength/suitability or tips for this type of boning would be appreciated.

[lucifers angel]

Hi all! Have trawled through the whole 94 pages of corsetry! I know many people have said this before me, but thanks for all the great advice and discussion. Im now dying to make a new corset, have bought plastic and steel boning and gathered all the materials.

Ive made one corset before, a plastic boned fashion one. Heres a quick peeek!




Also heres a link to the actual post for more pics!
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=311169.0

Ive had one major problem with it, I cut the pattern out fine, giving it extra length ad the bottom just in case, and yet it still ended up too short. I have no idea how I managed to do that!!! Any ideas/tips?  Although it could be because I basically made up the pattern, but am dreading this happening in future corsets..  And is there any good way to reinforce seams?

Also, one thing I learned form this project is NEVER use thin yet beautiful fashion materials for a corset, unless you plan to use iron-on interfacing ( I didn’t! oops!) I have to lace it up a little loosely, as one of the seams has started splitting…

[kellyhelene]

Ive had one major problem with it, I cut the pattern out fine, giving it extra length ad the bottom just in case, and yet it still ended up too short. I have no idea how I managed to do that!!! Any ideas/tips?  Although it could be because I basically made up the pattern, but am dreading this happening in future corsets..  And is there any good way to reinforce seams?

The length could be a few things.  If you didn't prewash your fabric it could be just basic shrinking.  If you turned in the bottom seams instead of binding that would chop a good quarter inch off right there, too.  If it's not heavily boned, though, it may also be bunching up at the waist a bit.  That happens a lot. 

As for seams, have you tried flat felled?  They're sturdy as all get out.  I do a variation on them in all my corsets since they're next to impossible to pick out when you WANT to, much less when you don't.

There's a good instruction set here.

[lucifers angel]

yes i turned up the bottom, rather than binding it, and it does bunch a tiny bit at the seams!

thanks for the link, very handy technique indeed..

[Ducky2010]

So, I've discovered that there are almost no free patterns for drafting your own victorian corset, at least not that I could find. But I had an idea. What if you used the free pattern generator for elizabethan corsets, decided how many panels you wanted, then took in the waist (x) inches across all of those panels? Obviously, you would need to allow for seam allowances inbetween the panels, but would this work? I keep thinking that if you can purchase fitted corsets then you probably don't have to be as exact as going to all the bother for hours to wrap yourself up in duct tape. Just an idea, and I was hoping some corset pros could answer it!

[Psycho_Bitch]

An elizabethan corset isn't designed for waist reduction, it's designed to give you a conical shape, which was very much in style at that time. To make a victorian corset out of the pattern you get would probably be as much work as just drafting the pattern yourself.

[kellyhelene]

Seconding that... an elizabethan corset isn't built for the same thing (and usually doesn't extend beyond the waist much if at all, or does only with tabs).

There's no free generators for victorian corsets since they really can't be made by generators.  It's not sections of the same shape and size, you have a lot more angles and curves to deal with, which is a bit too complicated for something like that. 

If you don't want to buy the Laughing Moon pattern or a corset making book you're better off waiting for a pattern sale and getting Simplicity 2890 or 9769 (I'd recommend the latter, it's been around a lot longer and there are a ton of online resources already established for people working with that specific pattern). 
Both are decent patterns, although be prepared to do a mock-up first as the ease of the pattern isn't realistic for a corset.  Odds are if you just measure yourself and go by that it'll end up too large.

[Alatarial]

I have a quick question... I'm making a corset for my Halloween costume, and am working on the first mock up. I'm wondering if anyone puts cups in there corset. I am little paranoid about wearing something without some sort of bra. I understand that it will be 'lifting' the little I have, but I would still feel a bit uncomfortable.

Is this possible?? And how hard would it be?

[Psycho_Bitch]

I know it is possible, because there are Dutch instruction DVD boxes for making a corset and a corset with cups is mentioned in the list of topics.
I have made bras and corsets without cups and I have been thinking about how to put the 2 together. The front of a bra doesn't need to be stretchy, the middle shouldn't have any stretch at all. With some adjustments you could join the two patterns together. It will be very difficult to make a corset with cups that you can open in the front, at the top you will most likely not have that much space between the cups. With a steel boned corset this will be a bigger problem than with a flexible fashion corset.