Here's another corset recently completed.  My client wanted to wear something special to her Moulin Rouge-themed 21st that incorporated the theme colours of black, cream and gold, but that she could also wear again.

She decided the main fabric should be black duchess satin and wanted to incorporate a gorgeous cream diamond brocade that I have had sitting around for a while.  We ended up using this brocade in the form of contrast boning channels, cut so that the crosses ran down the centre of the channel, hinting at the romantic Xs used as kisses.  She really wanted a ruffled lace trim too, but wasn't sure if this would make the corset too unwearable for the future.  The solution?  Removable, of course!  The lace is sewn to double-satin ribbon and is attached with tiny black snaps next to each contrast boning channel.  It is all topped off with an attached back modesty panel and luscious cream ribbon lacing.

 

( More pics under the cut )

Recently I completed a corset for a girl to wear to her school ball.  My client has E-cup breasts though, so this provided a small challenge to ensure that she was well supported, but didn't look obscene!

She had a reasonably good idea of what she wanted, in that she wanted some sort of shoulder wrap, a main colour of  the greeney-goldey satin she had and an incorporation of blue shimmery organza.  She also didn't want boobs up to her chin.

I did a number of designs and she decided on one using the blue organza as an overlay on the side panels and as a shoulder wrap with a diamante slider.  In case she decides to wear the corset again and doesn't want the wrap, I made this removable by using clear nylon snaps on the back for the two satin loops and by attaching the slider to a strip of interfaced satin that attaches by a snap on the inside of the top of the busk.

I normally design 12-panel corsets (6 panels per side) with a single seam down the centre of the bust.  Due to the size of her bust though, I wanted it to sit more naturally and rounded and to have some extra boning support, so I opted for a double princess seam down the front.  This was a fiddly little bastard to get right and it took 3 mockups before it was all sitting perfectly, but the end result was just right.  Her bust was sitting nice and high, but without being pushed up at all.  There was no back-fat at all and the wrap sat beautifully around her shoulders.  I hope I get some pictures from her ball! 

This is a victorian-style overbust with shaped cups and a sweetheart neckline. It has a uniquely shaped bottom that sits low over the hips before rising up and plunging to a low point at the centre back. It features a floating modesty panel with vertical boning to keep it straight as the corset is laced (this was not yet complete when my client picked up the corset so was not photographed in the corset).

It is made from black duchess delustered satin with centre-front and centre-back panels of client-supplied floral brocade, including pattern matching on the centre-front panels. It is bound with black satin, has antique brass size 00 grommets and is laced with black satin ribbon.

 

( Click here for pictures )

 

I also realised that I never posted pictures of an overbust I finished last year.  This is made from client-supplied black and green striped dupion and has black dupion binding. There is one layer of fusible interfacing, two strength layers and one loose lining layer.  It also has a floating back modesty panel that has vertical and horizontal boning.  Unfortunately it is far too long to fit on my dummy so I had to photograph it laying flat.

( Pictures after the cut )

My dear friend Fern was married in September and asked me to make a corset to match her wedding gown. The theme was Victorian Gothic and Fern already had a reasonably good idea of what she wanted. We tried several designs and came up with the one I ended up making for her below.

This is a style different to my others and features very slanted seams on the front, an elegant waist reduction and a high back. It has an attached modesty panel with horizontal and vertical boning. It was made with a secondary strength layer and a loose lining to make the corset more comfortable and provide an aesthetically pleasing interior.

The main fabric is a burgundy taffeta with black taffeta contrast boning channels, binding and accented edges at the busk and lacing panels. The fabric was supplied by Fern to match her wedding gown. It has been laced through size 0 black grommets with black double-satin ribbon and the binding is hand finished on the inside.

I think she looks absolutely stunning and the corset compliments her dress wonderfully.

  

 

Yup, I've been busy!  Here's another corset I just completed on Wednesday.

This was a commission for a girl whose favourite colour is blue.  When she saw the beautiful shimmery blue fabric I had, we had to figure out a way of incorporating it into the corset without overdoing it and making the corset too 'loud'.

Rachel really liked the idea of an overlay fabric to tone the colour down and blend it in with the black satin that the main corset would be made from.  We also decided to add piping under the top and bottom binding to help bring out the colour again and to tie in the coloured front and back panels.  She also loved the turquoise ribbon lacing I had on hand specifically to match that fabric, so we added that in as well.

I think the end result is pretty striking!

I recently completed the following corset for a client. 

When she said she wanted something in silver I was super excited because I have been just waiting for a good enough excuse to cut into a beautiful silver dupion I've had for a couple of years now.

The corset is bound in black dupion and has thin black lattice trim stitched down the seam between the 1st/2nd panels.  It gives her a lovely shape and the dupion has such a great sheen to it.

I recently completed a corset for a client who bought one of my sample corsets from ebay.  She was inspired by the corset in this post, so I set about doing some designs and we eventually settled upon the one below.

I am very happy with how this corset turned out, as is my client.  The lower binding on the side looks a little wonky in the photo but that's just due to my imperfect wadding stuffing. 

Elaine, the client for whom I made a Lissome corset recently, has sent me some utterly gorgeous images of her wearing it.

You may remember my post where I mentioned that Elaine has scoliosis and some interesting body quirks where one side of her waist is one inch higher than the other, as well as one side of her ribcage being larger than the other.  This took me a lot of thinking to get the pattern right, but the end result certainly justifies all the swearing!

I made this corset a few months back and had always planned to get some proper professional photos of it to put up, but I am tired with waiting (my own slackness, not others) so here are some crappy ones.  (Oh Richard, where are you?)

This is a sample of my pointed corset, which will be part of my eventual standard range of styles.  I also decided to try out flame motifs.  This is an idea I first had floating around in my head about a year ago (possibly more).  It was relatively straight forward to make - I just traced the design onto the back of my fashion layer (PVC), cut it out, then stitched it to a second fashion layer of pretty shimmery shot blue fabric (not sure what kind of fabric it is exactly, but it sure does look and feel gorgeous!).  I think next time I will try stitching the motif to the outside as the extra layer of faced fabric ends up making it all a bit more bulky than I'd like.  Also, the white fusing on the PVC shows up a little which I think detracts aesthetically from the corset.  I'm very happy with the style of the corset and have worked out the wrinkling problem around the front sides with future pattern tweaks.

I want to make some more samples using motifs of other shapes.  I might try to do that on my next planned sample that I really ought to start on this week sometime...

And yes, I know it is reminiscent of the flame-themed Deadly Girlz corset - I actually saw that one about a week after I'd made mine, strangely enough.  I suppose great minds think alike, or at least think that flames are really cool.

I have added some more images to the gallery of a corset I completed a couple of weeks ago.  This was for a Good vs Evil ball that Chris' work was putting on.  This corset was so totally comfortable and gave me fab cleavage without being too raunchy.  I didn't even want to take it off at the end of the night, it fit so well!

I tacked some of Chris' red EL glow-wire to the front along the second seams.  I re-used the skirt and arm greaves from a previous PVC outfit I made.

I have just finished a custom Lissome corset for a client in Canada who posted to the corset_shoppe forum looking for a 'real' corset, but made from stretchy fabric.  After emailing her it turned out that she is Elaine, who I had met through mutual friends in Auckland several years before when she was over visiting.  What a kwinky-dink!

Anyway, Elaine has scoliosis and some interesting body quirks where one side of her waist is one inch higher than the other, as well as one side of her ribcage being larger than the other. The pattern had to be drafted in two halves, but luckily Elaine had recently taken detailed measurements so I had all the information at hand straight away.  Even after accommodating her differing waist height and other differences, the first mockup twisted on her.  She had told me it would do this, as it had with every other corset she'd had made, but I had been positive that if it was drafted in two correct halves it would sit straight.  So, back to the drawing board (or rather, the graph paper).

After angling the busk and lacing panels the second mockup sat where it was supposed to finally.  Now I just needed to alter some of the seam lines to maintain reasonable symmetry.  This was a little tricky too as I couldn't just remove 2cm from one panel and add it to the other, as suddenly there would be one giant curve being sewn next to a straight line, which would have done weird things.  After much banging of my head against the wall I think the final product looks pretty good and will fit her beautifully.

I have just finished my most recent commission. It is a gorgeous underbust made from red satin with a black lace overlay and has contrast boning channels. It is the same colour/fabric combination of a corset I made for myself about 18 months ago. That was the last corset I made on my domestic sewing machine and what drove me to buy an industrial machine. I am happy to say that this corset was much less stressful!

About two weeks ago I completed an underbust corset for a good friend of mine who was getting a civil union with her partner. I offered to make her a corset for under her dress as a gift.

Under the cut are some pics of it on my mannequin and one of gorgeous Arna and Josh on their special day.


The corset is made from champagne duchess delustered satin and features a back modesty panel.   I really like the design and shape - this was chosen by Arna as an amalgam of two mock-ups I sent her.