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Corset drafting and sewing by Serinde

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Who doesn't love corsets? Try making one for yourself with these instructions for

drafting your own pattern and sewing it!As this is a pattern you may need to draft yourself, there are no seam allowances!

You can also find these instructions as a nifty little pdfon my blog.

Attention! Drafting and sewing a corset isn't easy, so I'm assuming you have somewhat

solid sewing skills if you decide to tackle this.

Step 1: Pattern notes

You can download the pattern I usedhere.

I usually wear a european 38, but that doesnt mean you can just use the same pattern, ifyoure a size 38, too. Thats because a corset shouldnt be made in regular sizes, but from

your personal measurements to achieve the perfect fit.The ones I used for the pattern are:

- Bust: 87cm- Underbust: 77cm

- Waist: 65cm

- Hip: 90cm

So, if you have the exact same measurements (or VERY close to them), feel free to use

the pattern as it is. If you dont, however, you can still use my pattern as a guideline whendrafting your own. Ill be giving directions for the drafting part as well.

Step 2: Materials

http://sasosiserinde.blogspot.de/2011/01/corset-pattern-and-instructions.htmlhttp://sasosiserinde.blogspot.de/2011/01/corset-pattern-and-instructions.htmlhttp://sasosiserinde.blogspot.de/2011/01/corset-pattern-and-instructions.htmlhttp://sasosiserinde.blogspot.de/2011/01/corset-pattern-and-instructions.htmlhttp://sasosiserinde.blogspot.de/2011/01/corset-pattern-and-instructions.htmlhttp://sasosiserinde.blogspot.de/2011/01/corset-pattern-and-instructions.html

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Youll need:

50cm of an outer fabric (satin, jacquard, whatever you like)

50cm of an inner fabric (has to be rather strong, I used a denim weave)

busk boning (Note: if you want a corset that will shape your silhouette, dont use plastic

boning. It will lose its shape eventually. I decided on spiral steel boning because it is the

most comfortable to wear in my opinion. Decide for yourself. Youll need the boningeither cut to the right sizes - I used 8 ready cut pieces - or you have to cut it to the correct

lenght yourself and then attach end caps. Also your choice.).

eyelets

5m of corset lacing strong thread

Step 3: Measurements

The pattern we will be making is for a semi-bust corset. However, you can quite easily

alter the pattern for an over bust corset (should you need help with that, please just sendme a message).

Depending on how you plan to wear your corset, wear something similar to what you

intend to wear under it in the future when taking your measurements.

For the semi-bust corset, the first measurement you will be taking is where your bust is

the widest. Tighten your measuring tape around your bust and try out how tight you wantyour corset to be after it is laced. In my case, the measurement I got was 89cm.

Next you need to take your underbust measurement. You cant (and shouldnt) narrow

down your ribcage with the corset, so use this measurement as it is. My measurement was79cm.

When youre done with that, measure the space in between your two measurements (i.e.

distance between bust and underbust, 7cm in my case).

Now measure your waist, again tightening the measuring tape as tight as you want yourcorset to be (in my case 67cm).

We need the distance between underbust and waist as well, so measure that (14cm).

Now measure around the spot where you want you corset to end, somewhere on yourhips (92cm) and the distance to your waist measurement (11cm).

Add together the bust/underbust-distance, the underbust/waist-distance and the

waist/hip-distance (7+14+11= 32cm) and youll get the length of your corset in the front.

Please note: This is also the length of the busk you will have to buy. Most of these areonly available in even lengths (e.g. 30cm, 32cm, ...), so you might want to adjust the end

point of your corset to get an even length.

Now you can optionally take away a few centimeters from these measurements, if youwant your corset to be open in the back. I deducted 2cm from every measurement, to get

a small gap.

Okay, one last bit of easy math ;) Decide, how many panels you want (I used ten) and divide your measurements by the

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number of panels. The measurements you get are the ones you will draw your panels

with.

Step 4: Now we can start drafting...

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We will start with the front panel.

Im sorry, if this is hard to understand (its really difficult to explain...), but please justtake a look at the pattern, it should help. So even if you wont be actually using it, at least

download it to see how the pattern works.

Draw a line with the length of the front of your corset (32cm).

Draw lines in the correct length (original measurements divided by number of panels) to

one side in a right angle to the front line. The distances between the lines are determinedby the distances between measurements you took earlier.

Connect the ends of these lines.

Now, a corset isnt as high in the back as it is in the front, so well make the panelssmaller towards one side.

To do this, draw a line one centimeter away from each end of the long line in right

angles to the long line.

Then connect the tip of the long line with the point where your new line meets theconnection lines of the bust, underbust, waist and hip lines (I tried to make the method

clear in the picture).The next panel works just the same way, but this time, youll use the original length of

the corset minus the two centimeters we deducted to make it smaller towards one side.

This new length (30cm) is the length of the second long line.Other than the front and back panels, the panels in between also have to be axially

symmetrical, so now when you draw the bust, underbust and waist lines, the long line

will divide them right in the middle.

ATTENTION: For bust and hip you wont use the measurement you calculated earlier

(the dashed lines in the picture), but youll have to measure the lenght of the new lines

you drew (the solid lines richt above/below the dashed ones in the picture). Otherwise itwont fit.

Again, take off one centimeter to one side in the same way as you did the first time.

Do this another two times (always use the new line measurement of the panel before), sothat you have 3 axially symmetrical panels (all getting smaller towards one side) and your

front panel.

The back panel is drawn like the front panel, only using the new measurements you got

along the way. Do not make this part smaller towards one side.

Step 5: Making a test piece

Of course you dont have to, but I advise you to. Youll be very sorry if the finished

corset doesnt fit, because it is frankly too much work to screw up ;)

Instead of putting in a busk in the front, just sew the front panels together. Then attachthe other parts in sequence. You can make tunnels for the boning out of the seam

allowances, so you don't have to put in a lining. You don't neccessarily have to put the

boning in the test piece, but it will make it easier to see if it fits right.Try on the trial version and make changes to the pattern if you have to.

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Step 6: Cutting

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Cut out all pieces twice out of both fabrics, adding a generous seam allowance, especially

at the back panels.When sewing. you should neaten and iron every seam, or the whole thing might end up

messy. I won't mention it every single time though.

Step 7: Start sewing - the front

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Most busks have two of their post/eye-sets closer together, thats the side that faces

down, making the half with the eyes the right one and the one with the posts the left one. Now take the half with the eyes and place it along the frontal seamline of the right front

panel. Now you can mark where the eyes will have to peek out between the two fabrics.

Right on right, sew together the two front panels in between your markings. Put the busk in between the two layers, sliding the eyes into the spaces you left open

when making the seam.

Now, with the busk in between the two layers, make a seam as close to the busk as youcan, thus holding it firmly in place (this works best with a zipper foot which I

unfortunately didnt have, that's why my seam looks a little wonky...)

Step 8: Sewing the panels

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