Corsetry Archives — Page 2 of 2 — Skeletons in the Closet Couture and Corsetry

1 January 20181 January 2018

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

28 November 201721 January 2018

Serena Underbust corset

Introducing a new corset for the Couture Curve collection.

The Serena corset is a lovely light short corset. This corset is longer than a waspie but shorter than the Alathea corset. The Serena is about 24-26 cm long at the front, making is great for people with a shorter torso or who just want to wear a short corset but not as short as a waspie.

The corset is made out of silk, it has a coutil strength layer and a soft cotton lining. It has 14 steel bones and a busk. As with all Couture Curve corsets it is made out of dupioni silk. Dupioni silk is available is so many lovely colours. Often they can look as jewel tones.

Serena corset by Skeletons in the Closet

This corset is a made to measure corset. You can order it by using our contact form.

As we make all corsets by hand so if you love this corset but is just not quite for you yet we can add things for a surcharge.

For example you might like more boning, either double boning at the seamlines or extra bones at the centre of the panels. Or perhaps you would love some lace or flossing on this corset, we also embellish corsets if you like. In fact this lovely silk waspie is now adorned with some light white lace to match the Serena bralette as you can see here.

Serena waspie corset — Serena corset and Bralette

Perhaps you love the shape of this corset but you want something that is not as delicate as silk. It is also possible to buy this corset as a Beautiful Basic Corset in a rosebud or satin coutil.

18 November 201721 January 2018

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)

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.

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

9 November 201721 January 2018

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)

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.

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.

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.

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)

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.

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.

6 October 20176 October 2017

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.

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.

18 August 2017

The Corset Body

The corset body

In 2016 a lovely client contacted me to make a corset body. I had never done that before but I was excited about the challenge. And boy it was a challenge

The difficult part of a corset body is that it does not stretch, at all. After all you do not want a corset to stretch. But you also do not want the body to sag or be too tight.

It took us 2 mock-ups but then the corset was finished

The corset is made out of red silk with black satin coutil boning casings. The corset has a little

black lace accents.

I could not put it on a dummy since the bottom was closed so I filled it up with our pillows. I hope you get the idea.

12 March 201712 March 2017

Black is such a happy colour

People who know me for a while know that I started sewing when I wanted to wear gothy clothes. This evolved into a fascination with the Victorian era and corsetry.

When my client asked me to make her a Victorian corset in all black materials I was very happy. Combining the two things I love. We chose as a base a corset modelled after one of the Symington patterns. For a true historical look. It is the same style I used as a basis for the Victorian halfbust corset.

We talked a bit over skype for the measurements and the materials.

We chose a Black Rosebud coutil, with black cotton sateen coutil boning casings. The top of the corset is trimmed with a black cotton lace. The boning casings are finished at the bottom with black cotton perle flossing.

At the back of the corset I added two diagonal bones. For a historical touch.

So we have a lot of black ingredients in this corset. The external boning casings and flossing adding texture to a corset that might have been seen as boring otherwise. I love it. And I hope you love it too.

21 January 201715 July 2017

Misunderstanding corsetry, and how to deal with it.

A little history:

A lot of you might have seen the pictures I made with Amesbury Rose (model), Eline Spek(photographer) and Chloe Bakker(makeup and hair), back in 2012. This photoshoot still is one of my favourite shoots ever. I made a Marie Antoinette inspired stays with pocket hoops. I was, and still am very proud of this work we did together.

As with most of my shoots this was a joined TFP effort. TFP stands for Time For Print it means that the shoot was done with closed wallets. None of us payed the other. It was a shoot for all our portfolio’s and because we always have great fun working together. The photographer asked if she was allowed to send the pictures to her publisher. And since I want everyone to make the most of our trade work I agreed. As did the others.

Now the following has happened. A columnist wrote a piece about shapewear and in this article he mentioned corsets as terrible torture things women used to wear. With this column one of the pictures was used. You can find the column here, it is in Dutch.

A lot of people emailed me asking if I had seen it. Thank you to all of you! Theft of photographic material is something that happens often on the world wide web. However in this case the picture was legally bought. So no worries on the legal account.

However, the things said in the column are not something I agree with. For me the corsets, and some other items of shapewear, are exactly the things I love. I do not feel uncomfortable in my corset, in fact I love the feel of it. Also my husband loves me in a corset, (he also loves me without one, don’t worry)

In fact I love the corset so much I made it my job to make them. This is how I make a living.

Corsets are my obsession so my first response to this article was: How dare you mock my corset!

However having given it a bit more thought I am not angry or upset. The article was simply written by someone who just does not like shapeware on a woman. For him it seems uncomfortable. And let’s face it, most people who do not wear corsets on a regular basis do not know what an actual corset looks and feels like. They only see and hear the horror stories of people who fainted or had organs removed or were forced to wear corsets in order to adhere to a certain beauty ideal. For most people a corset is often something freaky and intriguing. People have the same attitude towards tattoos or piercings, and other methods of body modification. People love to ogle and judge.

We all have had people asking where our organs went or how we breathe, move, eat and live in a corset. Unusual things make people curious.

How I deal with it:

You as a corset wearer or enthusiast can be upset about all the people in the world who do not like corsets. If you love corsets and everything to do with it, it can sometimes be hurtful that your corset wearing is called “unnatural” “freakish” or “damaging to the image of women”

I made a choice not to worry about the opinion of others about my corset wearing. People are after all allowed to have their own opinions about a subject. As long as people do not touch me of say offensive things about my person I just let it go. Of course it would be great if every person in this world would first educate themselves before forming an opinion, but we all know that people are quick to judge. Every single one of us. Me included. If possible I try to educate people about corsetry. Let them try on one of mine to show them that it is not all that bad. But if someone does not love corsets. That is ok. I do not like to wear jeans. That is ok too.

So breathe, tighten your corset and let the negativity flow away from your smooth curves. Enjoy your corset wearing!

*final edit and spell check by Dineke