Personal Archives — Skeletons in the Closet Couture and Corsetry

14 January 202414 January 2024

Bloodmoon corset

In 2019 I made the first moonchild corset. The moonchild corset is made out of black silk, coutil, ivory corsetry mesh. It has a front panel made out of coutil covered in silk, 2 mesh side panels and a back panel made out of coutil and silk. It has an inner waist tape. The moonchild corset is for the unique and curious souls who are out of this world and do not want to live in the harsh reality.

Now the Moonchild corset has a dark sister. This is the Bloodmoon corset.

The Bloodmoon corset is made out of black silk, coutil, and black corsetry mesh. This corset has a front panel made out of coutil covered in silk, 4 mesh side panel and a back panel made out of coutil and silk. The waist tape is made out a velvet ribbon. The extra mesh panel compared to the moonchild corset gives it a bit more space to show your skin underneath the corset. The creation of this Bloodmoon corset for me is about change, new beginnings and embracing the darker aspects of femininity. Be unapologetic feminine.

The bloodmoon corset can be found in the webshop.

8 January 20248 January 2024

1940s coat

One of the styles I love to make more and more these years are the 1940s outfits. They are so classy and elegant. Perfect for many occasions.

Not only do I love the fashions, I also love the make do and mend attitude of the era. An important resolution for the new year is to do more with the large amount of fabrics I already have in stock. This means that there will be more ready to ship items available in the web shop in the coming year.

This coat is based on an historical pattern from the 40s. It features a shawl collar, an A-line skirt and belt. It is made out of a wool mix and closes with snap buttons to give it that smooth look at the front.

Since the fabric had a check pattern I made sure to match the pattern down the centre back and centre front. Also I made sure that both sleeves have the same place where the check pattern starts at the top.

The coat has light shoulder padding and a pleated puff sleeve.

Now I have not added this coat to the web shop, since I made it for me. However, of course I can make you a similar coat. We can find your own unique fabric and create a 1940s dream just for you.

23 August 20218 January 2024

The making of the 1891 Ageless Patterns Riding corset

20-08-2021 The Start

After a bit of a summer hiatus I am trying to get back into the swing of things. With covid and the lack of events and such my sewing-focus is at an all time low. Now I have learned about myself in the past years that sometimes I just need to start on a project and then the creativity will follow. To make myself follow trough with this project I decided to document it on the Blog.

A corsetry colleague of mine was selling a part of the corset making collection, including this ageless patterns version of a 1891 riding corset. I bought this from her in the hopes that it will rekindle my love for corsetry.

Since this is not a commissioned project I decided that it has to be made largely from my stash of fabrics. I have had this floral quilting fabric for ages, the lace is left over from a commission from some years back, and the velvet ribbon is also a left over stash piece.

27-8-2021 – The pattern

If you have worked with Ageless patterns before you may know that the sizing is a little off at times. Ageless patterns takes patterns from historical sources and grades them. So the pattern is just as it was back then. They do add seam allowance.

The first thing I do when working with a pattern like this is taping together a paper version of it to just check the pattern pieces. I traced a size 26 inch. I chose this size because it is closest to my size. This way I have the option of keeping it if it does not sell.

Right away I notice that the front hip gusset is longer than the 2^nd front piece. Now I have two options, I can add some length to the front pieces or I can shorten the gusset. The drawing from this corset shows quite a pointed look. Since I love this look, and human beings are generally longer now than they were 100 years ago, I decided to go for the lengthening of the front pieces.

Papier pieces glued together for a first glimps on how this corset will look.

Well it has been a while. Currently I am busy with a study for my day job leaving me not that much time to sew. So there is tons of creative energy but not enough time to do all the projects I want to do. But finally I have taken the time to make some more progress with this corset!

20-03-2022 First steps

Here you can see the first and second panel and the amount I have lengthened the corset.

I am making this corset out of a floral quilting cotton and a coutil strength layer. Before assembling the corset stitch the floral cotton to the coutil and then treat it as one layer. In the past I have fused the cotton to the coutil, but I prefer to use a little glue in my sewing as possible. So when it is not necessary just don’t glue.

After attaching the fashion fabric to the coutil I stitched the first to the second panel. The seamlines are stitched twice.

29-5-2022 Corset Panels Assemble!

Now it is time to assemble the 3^rd panel. This panel is made out of 2 pieces. A hip piece that is attached to the main piece. I want the corset to look as much as the example as possible, so I want to assemble this piece using the method shown with the pattern. I believe the English term is Flat Fell seam. (for the record, I am dutch)

After that I stitched the panel and tada! It looks like a regular 3^rd corset panel. This panel I attached to the first two.

Then it was already up to the 4^th panel. (I just love how quickly it looks like a corset when you have the first panels assembled) The 4^th panel has a bone down the centre of the panel and not just at the seamlines, so I went on ahead and stitched that boning channel in using regular bone channel tape.

Please note that I do allow comments underneath this blog post, if the amount of spam gets to high comments will be closed. You are of course allowed to ask questions, please note that with a full time job next to Skeletons it may take a while before I answer.

30 October 201830 October 2018

18th century costuming

Salon de la Societe Raffinee, picture by Bart Kools

This autumn we were attending Salon de la Societé raffinee. Organised by my dear friend Shari. A Salon is an event where a Salonière introduces artists to the guests. A place to socialise with friends and imagin that you live in the 18th century. I was honored to be one of the artists who got to display the art of Skeletons in the Closet

For this event I decided to make a new costume for my Husband. Maarten has been looking at an historical example of an 18^th century costume and would have loved to have a costume like that. So we decided to give it a try.

The 18^th century is an era beyond my comfort zone, so this was quite a challenge. This costume had a lot of pieces. A white cotton underskirt. A cotton cravat. Black cotton breeches. An embroidered silk vest and an embroidered green and silver frock coat.

In order to make this project I have purchased an embroidery machine. Via Etsy I bought an embroidery pattern from Art Embroidery designs, Lubia makes the most wonderful historical patterns for embroidery machines! This gives your 18^th century projects a real historical look.

We started from the bottom up, I always work like this. Because if you wear layered clothing it is good to fit each layer over each other, so you don’t get a coat that only fits over a t-shirt but not over a blouse with vest.

The outfit took a total of 50 hours to make. Although the machine does most of the embroidery you have to stay with it. Especially for the vest where the embroidery had 9 different colors.

The Husband did most of the embroidery by himself while I was sewing away on the rest of the outfit.

Salon de la Societe Raffinee, picture by Lux Immortalis

For myself I made a 18^th century fantasy dress. This dress is not historically accurate.

The dress is made out of silk, and has an beaded and embroidered stomacher.

If after seeing these garments you would like to discuss a custom gown or suit, feel free to contact me using our contact form.

Here is also a picture of our booth at the Salon.

4 April 201813 April 2018

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!

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.

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.

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