Julie's Venetian Courtesan

Who doesn't want to be a Dangerous Beauty?

Monday, January 17, 2005

Corset Woes

I am pretty sure I stole this post's title from one of my accomplices. I worked on a corset today for quite a long time (granted, I had a lot of distractions). I used the corset pattern generator from the Elizabethan Costuming page. I opted for the boned tab style, since the site said that it was the most comfortable. And in all my fun layers of courtesan clothes, comfort will definitely be an issue. ;-)

While I think it looks okay in pics, I am not sure its gonna fit me properly. I kinda tried to play with it (I haven't put grommets in yet) to test the fit. I think it is TOO straight, if that is possible for the venetian silohuette. It does not make a conical shape, but kinda a straight up and down. I am hoping that once I get all the boning into it (it needs to be ordered first) it will fit better. Maybe I'm just being pessimistic. Sigh.

I've also found that its exceedingly hard to fit a corset to yourself when you have no one to help and no dummy...Here are my attempts so far. I apologize for the poor picture quality. Usually hubby is there to take good pics, but not tonight.


corset layout/boning--all the boning is straight up and down (except for the ones on the back) . Maybe this is the source of my "too straight" problem?


Corset "fitting" . Keep in mind its not laced (no eyelets or grommets yet), and there are only a couple pieces of poly boning in there--i'm waiting to get my spiral steel boning, but I need to know what sizes to order first.

As for the corset, I still am not sure what I think of it. I do hope I will like it more after "sleeping on it" and getting the boning/laces worked out. (I apologize for the weird picture angle. I was contorted trying to hold the camera far enough out to get the whole thing in the pic.)

So far I have only used the white denim for the corset. If I can get the pattern working okay I will cut out my outer brocady fabric, but as my supply of that is limited I am waiting until the corset pattern works to use up my decorative stuff.

I guess my corset will be on hiatus until I get the boning into it and figure out what's going wrong...

1 Comments:

Blogger Anita said...

Yes, you hootchie, I was all over that title. I am down with you trying to emulate my greatness, at least you are not copying my engagement ring-snicker.

To me, your corset looks spectacular and I think the boning should bend a bit when you lace it (at least my store bought one does). Of course, you might not want to listen to me. Least I remind you of my corset woes:

“I took notice of the corset generator. Then I did something very foolish indeed: decided to do the whole thing on my own. Brilliant. However, the look was very nice. I was most pleased. I proceeded to measure out my first spiral-lacing corset (my first corset ever actually), and lace it up…..The grommets came out spectacularly smashed. I was giddy with the thought of how they looked like an ape pounded them together…..Then the moment of truth…..I squeezed into the bodice. Oh! Lamentable night. Looking like a large sausage tube does very little for the female ego. I was most unpleased.”

Oh my intelligent friend, you did something I failed to do. FOLLOW the pattern. Even flaccid, I can tell your work is far superior. Your woes do not include blatant disregard for instructions nor results that lead you to use nouns like ape and sausage tube when describing your relationship with the product. I would say that is a success! I dunno how you were holding yourself in the picture, but it really looks right to me.

10:59 AM  

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