Little Owls

This Easter I had to opportunity to do a photoshoot with Angela Dekens from Little Owls.

I have had my Hithfaereth gown for a year now and never had the time to take proper pictures with me in it. So when there was an opening to shoot with Angela, I decided to go for it. We went to a forest close by called Beetsterzwaag. Angela and her partner showed up with 4 owls in tow to shoot with.  I got to put on a leather glove and a little owl was set on my arm.

 

Something I did not expect was that the owls love to cuddle and are actually quite vocal. They also see everything, from other birds to little mice on the ground. It makes for quite tricky posing. They always look at what they find interesting, and that might not always be the lens.

First up was little Norna. She was so cute! A lovely little Northern White-faced owl  that just loved to talk. She has a little moustache that moves when she talks. She is quite excited about everything.  

 

 

Next was Lea. Lea is probably the most famous of the little owls. She is a churchowl and so pretty and soft. She is also quite cuddly and very well behaved. Angela told me she even flys in wedding rings at ceremonies. Sadly I am already married. ?

 

We also played around a little with a smokebomb in purple, that matched the gown perfectly.

 

Next was quite a grumpy sir. Mr Bjorn. Bjorn is an African Oehoe. And although he is quite sweet, he can look quite stern. I love this shot since we both are looking out of the lake, making it a dreamy visage.

 

Last was Dailah, a Bengal Oehoe. Now to be completely honest, although I have met Dailah before at Imaginairium, he does intimidate me quite a bit. It is probably the eyes, and the large claws. However he is beautiful. So a picture with him was a must.

 

Shooting with the little owls was quite an experience. Angela was great in keeping me at ease and the owls are well trained.

 

The gown I am wearing is the Hithfaereth gown. More about this gown can be found in this blog post

I hope you like these pictures. I know I do!  

 

 

 

 

Why don’t you do right

 

An iconic dress thisone.

The Jessica Rabbit dress as seen in the movie “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”

I made this dress for the lovely Saskia Lillith, a fellow tightlacer. I have made a corset for Saskia before and we spoke about making her something with a flair of drama. The epic curves on Jessica Rabbit will look amazing on Saskia.

 

The dress is made out of a sequin fabric. This fabric has a lovely sparkle and twinkle in any light. If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen some twinkles in my stories.

The dress has a build in corset counting 23 steel bones. The dress is also fully lined and the lacing at the back is hidden underneath the outer fabric.  

The core is made with satin coutil, this because it is really strong and at the same time not bulky. Hiding the line where the corset ends as good as possible.

 

If you see Saskia at the Dutch Comic Con, do tell her how beautiful she looks!

Dark Love

Last december I was contacted by my friend Stephanie if I wanted to participate for a shoot with the theme “Lovers”

She was able to borrow some awesome Mohawks from Pioro Blue, and needed some dresses to go with it. Luckely I had something in the same shades lying around.

So on a cold december day, we went to the Hague and shot these beauties. We send them to Gothic And Amazing Magazine and they were published in the februari love edition.

Lovers:
Corsets and Gown by Skeletons in the Closet
Mohawk by Pioro Blue
Models Stephanie Winter and Helena Lush, Photographer: Sanne van Bergenhenegouwen Mua Iris Makeup

 

Stephanie is wearing our black velvet gown with a green silk corded underbust corset.
Helena Lush is wearing our beatle wing gown. 
Lovers:
Corsets and Gown by Skeletons in the Closet
Mohawk by Pioro Blue
Models Stephanie Winter and Helena Lush, Photographer: Sanne van Bergenhenegouwen Mua Iris Makeup

 

Lovers:
Corsets and Gown by Skeletons in the Closet
Mohawk by Pioro Blue
Models Stephanie Winter and Helena Lush, Photographer: Sanne van Bergenhenegouwen Mua Iris Makeup

Models: Stephanie Winter and Helena Lush

Photographer: Sanne van Bergenhenegouwen.

Mua:  Iris Alround Make-up Artist.

 

 

Did this shoot inspire you to have your own custom gown made. Please contact me! 

Gothic Valentine

This year I decided to finish this red silk corset I started about 2 years ago. I was a little lost on how to finish it. In the end I decided to finish this corset using the things I love the most. Februari is the month of love after all. Delicate lace and flossing are things that make me happy. While I do deviate from my gothic roots on occasion by making something in delicate pastels, when I get to make something just for fun it will most likely have something black in it.

The cut of this corset is a modern Victorian style with a lovely sweetheart bustline. The patterning is done so that the corset will curve nicely over the tummy.

The red dupion silk corset has a coutil strength layer and a cotton lining. The binding is hand-finished on the inside.

This corset has 22 steel bones that I all flossed at the bottom with black perle cotton.

The black lace is stitched on by hand. This took a lot of time since there are so many little leaves and curves in this lace. The result is a black corset that has lace dripping down from the top and little V flossing at the bottom. 

 

Gothic Valentine corset by Skeletons in the Closet

 

I will bring this corset with me to the Salon de la Societe Raffinee this october.

If you would like to order a custom corset like this, you can send me an email or use the contact form for inquiries.

Purple Edwardian

Historical corsetry and especially Edwardian corsetry is special to me. The unusual lines creating lovely shapes just grabs me every time.

 

This time I made an Edwardian corset out of silk. For pattern I used the s-curve pattern from the book corsets and crinolines. I did change the bust a bit to give it a bit of a more sweetheart shape.

What is so special about Edwardian corsetry are panels. Where in modern Victorian style corsetry boning follows the lines of the corset in Edwardian corsetry this is not the case. The boning does not follow the seams of the corset but go across all seam lines. It is not entirely visible on the corset due to the lace, but I hope you can still see it.

 

Edwardian corset with lace

 

This corset is made with purple Italian silk taffeta, a coutil strength layer and a soft cotton lining. The lace I used for this corset is a high quality lace that was white. Together with my mother in law I dyed it in a liliac shade to match the purple of the corset better.

 This style of lace is so lovely and delicate. 

 

Edwardian corset by Skeletons in the Closet

 

As you can see the dummy is a tad to big for the corset making the hips flare out a tad more than they should. I hope to get this corset shot on a human beeing this spring.

Would you like a corset like this? Send me an email or use the contact form on the website.

Paris Adventures

Paris adventures!

Last year I went with Richard Terborg and Lisa on a road trip to Paris. We both wanted to go somewhere where we could be inspired by different surroundings and meet up with different people. Since we wanted to bring loads of stuff we went by car.

Driving is Paris was quite adventurous but luckily Richard is not scared of anything.

Lisa is a great model, and has an amazing feel for styling an outfit. We put together 3 different looks for her.

We dressed up in the Hotel room and then just wandered the streets to take some pictures in lovely places.

The first one was this gothic style morgana corset and skirt combo. The corset is a cotton coutil version with hand embroidery (flossing). Paired with a long black skirt with train.  We shot it in the early morning light creating this soft look.

Corset by Skeletons in the Closet
Lisa by Richard Terborg
Corset by Skeletons in the Closet
Lisa by Richard Terborg

 

The second set had just a bit more drama. It is a ruffle hoop skirt, paired with the hearts underbust corset and a satin bra top.

Corset by Skeletons in the Closet
Lisa by Richard Terborg
Corset by Skeletons in the Closet
Lisa by Richard Terborg

 

The last outfit was something completely different. We used the Nix corset and paired it with black pants and a lovely pink blouse. Creating quite the Parisian feel.

 

Corset by Skeletons in the Closet
Lisa by Richard Terborg
Corset by Skeletons in the Closet
Lisa by Richard Terborg

In Paris we met the beautiful Theresa. Theresa is a lovely model/singer who has been modelling for quite some time now. Her facebook page can be found here.

 

Queen, outfit by Skeletons in the Closet
. Theresa by Richard Terborg

 

For this shoot I made something new. In this case a royal blue chiffon gown. Worn with a gold and blue corset it makes quite an impression. We paired it with some gold jewellery and together it makes a regal statement.

 

Queen, outfit by Skeletons in the Closet
. Theresa by Richard Terborg

The chiffon gown is now available in the webshop.

 

Blue Queen shift gown
Photocredits :Theresa by Richard Terborg

Of course we could not just do one set. So we rushed back to the hotel and did a bit more of a gothic look. You cannot shoot with Theresa and not do something more goth.

Gothic lady, outfit by Skeletons in the Closet
. Theresa by Richard Terborg

 

So for this look we put together a mermaid skirt with the raven corset, a beaded neck corset and the vixen bra top.

 

Gothic lady, outfit by Skeletons in the Closet
. Theresa by Richard Terborg

This concluded our Paris adventure and we went back home. Stopping at a lovely little village for some lunch (with cheese)

 

I hope you love the pictures as much as I do. As always shooting with Richard was a joy with lots of laughs but he also makes amazing fashion photographs.

 

 

Dutch Masters corsetry

Dutch Masters Corsetry

Dutch Masters floral corsetry.

Dutch Masters Corsetry
Photocredits: Bunny Glittergun by Henk van Rijssen.

 

If you follow my work on instagram you may have noticed that I love floral prints. Recently a new sort of floral print fabric came on the market. Specifically a floral fabric named Hollandse meesters (translated Dutch Masters)

Dutch Masters Corsetry
Dutch Masters Corsetry.
Photocredits: Bunny Glittergun by Henk van Rijssen

I think that this floral print is inspired by a painting of Abraham Mignon, but I am not 100% certain. *edit: I recently learned it is probably a painting by Jacob van Walscapelle ‘Flowers in a Glass Vase’

This style of printed fabric uses a method called photo printing. Creating a lifelike image on fabric. Most photo printed fabrics are tricot, but I found this cotton fabric and just fell in love.

I matched most of the pattern at the front of the corset. For the more curvy places of the corset I choose a certain flower or leaf to match. You can not match is over the full lenght of the pattern. The curvier the panel the harder it is to match perfectly. And as you may have noticed, I love curvy corsets.

The edges are bound in velvet. This because I love the wintery feel of the velvet binding.

 

 

You may have become intrigued and want one of the floral corsets for yourself. Because I love this fabric so much I am doing an introduction price on these corsets. Please note that I can only make this style of corsets as long as the fabric is available. As soon as it goes out of print, there will be no more corsets in this fabric.

Dutch Masters overbust corset.

 

This corset is available in the following styles: You can order by using the contactform.

 

 

 

All the Underbust Corsets all the time

Here are some underbust corset I finished recently. They are all underbust corsets and yet they are all different. In both construction, materials and fit. I shall try to explain a bit about each corset and its construction method.

 

First a gold silk underbust corset. This corset has a coutil strength layer, as gold silk outer layer and a cotton lining with a print of Rembrands Nachtwacht. (the nightswatch by Rembrand is a painting that you can see at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. It has internal boning casings and a blue lace applique on the front panel. The binding is hand finished. I made this corset because I had the silk left over from another project and it looked amazing with the lace. I did not have a lot of silk left so an underbust was all that was possible with this fabric. There are bones on both the seams and at the center of the panels. This keeps the corset nice a smooth.

Gold Corset with Blue Lace by Skeletons in the Closet Couture and Corsetry

I made a blue shift dress to go with this corset as you can see in this photo from a photoshoot with Richard Terborg and Theresa, (this corset is available at the webshop)

Blue Queen shift gown
Photocredits :Theresa by Richard Terborg

 

Next is a custom order from a beautiful lady who wanted a very short underbust corset. The corset is made with 2 layers of coutil. Embroidered external boning channels, and a black ribbon tape at the outside. This corset is hand finished. The external channels make sure that the inside is nice and smooth. I loved doing the embroidered channels, there are a lot more options on the sewing machine to make embroidered channels so if you want something like this let me know!

pink waspie with embroidered boning channels by Skeletons in the Closet Couture and Corsetry

The extra layer of coutil makes sure that the corset is really strong. It is not necessary to have an extra layer of coutil, but if you like extra sturdy corsets it is always an option. The black ribbon at the waist is a nice little detail.

 

pink waspie with embroidered boning channels by Skeletons in the Closet Couture and Corsetry

 

This mesh corset was a bit of a try out. A supplier of mine had a new narrow cotton bone casing and I wanted to see how it would look. So I made a very short, almost belt like, waspie corset. It has a red lace front panel and a satin coutil back panel. All flat steel boning. I did bend the side bones to make sure it would stay in the right shape.

Red Lace waspie

The edges of the mesh on the top and the bottom I first edge with cotton bias tape and over this goes the black satin bias. To make sure the mesh threads will not poke through.

(This corset is available in the webshop)

 

The hearts corset is the oldest of this set of corsets. I made if before Elfia in april.  It is made out of Italian silk taffeta, a black hand cut heart applique at the front and a floral cotton lining. It has internal boning casings. This corset has 5 panels per side and is quite curvy. All the boning casings are at the seam lines and at the center front.  Corset is available here. 

 

Corset by Skeletons in the Closet
Lisa by Richard Terborg

This purple brocade waspie is a larger size. I rarely make larger size samples because they always end up in my closet. This corset is made with a purple satin brocade fabric fused to coutil. It has satin coutil external boning casings and cotton internal boning casings. I chose to do both external and internal boning casings because I love the purple fabric. However if I put a lot of satin coutil external boning casings on the outside you would not see much of the fabric anymore. So the center front and side panels have a bone on the inside.

This corset has 25 bones for support of the corset to keep it smooth. The binding is machine finished. (This corset is available here)

 

Purple Brocade waspie

And last, another 4 panel per side corset. This corset is super lightweight. It is made out of satin coutil with external boning casings. It has a cameo on the front with a bird skull. It has steel boning and a waist tape. Satin coutil is a lovely fabric to make lightweight corsets with. It is smooth, shiny and strong. It also makes for great boning channels. Keeping such a lightweight corset with external boning channels makes sure that the inside is smooth.

Gothic lady, outfit by Skeletons in the Closet
. Theresa by Richard Terborg

 

The corset has a cameo at the front. I just wanted to make something with a raven skull for a long time. The binding is machine finished. (this corset is also available in the webshop)

 

There you have it 6 different corsets, 6 different construction methods. All pretty. There are so many ways to make a corset and non of it is the only way. It just depends on how you want the corset to look, how sturdy you like your corset and of course what your budget is.

 If you are inspired to have your own corset made,  please contact me by email or using the order form.

 

 

 

Hithfaereth gown

Hithfaereth is Sindarin for Myst Spirit.

This gown is mostly inspired by Elfish style garments. I wanted to make a gown that was flowy and had wide sleeves. Also I wanted to use the beautiful leather I bought at the Utrecht fabric market years ago.

The corset is our favourite Morgana style corset, but this time in a large size. The best thing about this style of corsetry, is that the straps allow you to have quite a deep neckline while making sure that the strap might cover any boob fold. After all if you lift your boobage, it has to go somewhere, and not all styles of corsetry allow you to cover the fold between the boob towards your arm. This corset takes care of that wonderfully. (as do the Vixen style and Vampire Corsets btw)

The back runs quite low, again making sure that the side and the strap cover any overspill.

The skirt and detachable sleeves are made from a lovely flowy fabric, in an amazing colour that works so well with this corset. It creates a soft and flowing gown that has a light feel to it. Combined with the tough leather corset it makes a gown fit for a highborn elf.

 

Someday I would love to do a little shoot in this outfit. For now here are some pictures of the corset on a dummy.

Hithfaereth gown
Hithfaereth gown back

If you would like to order your own custom creation, please contact me. You can use the contact form under about, or send me an email.

Lovely Lace

This is one of my most recent commissions. A lovely lady asked me to make her a wedding dress. But not a long, white, trained wedding gown, but a short, fun lace wedding gown.

I loved making it. It features a satin underdress, in dark green. Over it sits 3 meters of black lace. It has small cap sleeves. It has a petticoat underneath for just a little poof.

I loved making it and I hope this bride had a great wedding day.