corsetmaking Archives — Skeletons in the Closet Couture and Corsetry

14 December 201926 December 2019

Dutch Masters Underbust

Dutch Masters Corset

This fabric has become a bit of my thing over the past years. I love the colour and print on this cotton fabric.

This corset was made for a lovely experienced tightlacer. This means that the corset is extremely curvy.

When working with a patterned fabric you need to match the pattern or else the entire corset will look like an imbalanced mess. However due to the extremely curvy nature of this corset you cannot match the pattern everywhere, you have to choose where you want the flowers to flow over from one panel to the other, and where you are ok with not making the cut. Also, you have to keep in mind the grain of the fabric you are working with. After all you do not want wrinkles.

All in all, I am quite proud of this corset.

As you may have noticed, although I am not taking on any big orders (I still have my full-time job) I have found some room in my schedule for the occasional corset or bra. Please do understand that I do not wish to have a year fully booked, so I am taking it a season at the time. In a period of 3 months I take on a very limited amount of orders. For this fall we did the Dutch masters bra’s and Moonchild corsets, and for the winter we will open for 2 or so corset orders.

Stay tuned and follow me on Instagram and Facebook if you want to be the first to know. Or even better sign up to my mailing list.

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.

6 March 20163 April 2016

Sheer corsetry

Sheer corsetry.

As you may know, I was a little late to the sheer corsetry party. Having tried to work with lingerie mesh, and non coutil strength layer before (both not to satisfaction) I was not sold on the idea of using a mesh fabric for corsetry. After all a corset is supposed to be strong and durable.

However, seeing some amazing examples of sheer corsetry I decided to take the plunge.

The first sheer item I made was the girdle. A combination of a vintage style girdle and a corset. This lightly boned corset soon became my favourite to wear. I now have two versions of this girdle for personal wear, a light and a dark one.

Something you should know about corsetry mesh, is that although it does not stretch is does have a little give. This means that it will break in easily and quickly forms to your body while still being strong enough to chinch.

A corset in mesh feels flexible and airy, it is a great material for cupped rib corsets and lingerie like pieces. They are also fun to wear with a contrasting colour underneath. As corset mesh is only available in black and ivory, they are also pretty to combine with coloured silks. Like this Honoria Waspie.

The down side of the mesh is that it is made out of polyester. So I always wear something underneath my corsets, both to protect my corset from sweat and to protect my skin from the sometimes harsh feel of the polyester. A mesh corset is not always the better choice in hot weather, sometimes a single layer cotton coutil corset might even feel better.

There are corsetmakers who use cotton bobinette. This is something I have yet to experiment with, but could be something for the future. Being made out of cotton it must feel more comfortable against the skin.

Is a sheer corset better or worse than a cotton coutil corset? That would depend on where you need the corset for, what type of wearer you are and what you expect of a corset. Not all corsets are suitable for every corset wearer, and not all corset wearers have the same needs from their corset every day.

If you are a lacer who likes a strong feel of the corset, you might want a double layer coutil corset. If you need something lingerie like, but still strong a sheer corset might be just the thing.

Here is my newest example of sheer corsetry. A Lady Aistikas corset in satin coutil and corsetry mesh, with external boning casings and a little bit of lace. The lady Aistikas corset is a four pannel corset, that gives quite a bit of curve. As you can see on this lovely woman! Necia Navine shot this corset and collar for me.

Lady Aistikas corset and Fringe Collar by Skeletons in the Closet. Model and Photographer Necia Navine.

And on the dummy!

If you would like your own made to measure sheer Sophia Eden girdle, or lady Aistikas corset. They will be available on the website as made to order items on the 1rst of September 2016. I know it is a little while away, but we are booked up until then.