I've made a couple of overbusts recently but never got around to posting pics of them.

The first one was for a hairdresser friend of mine who was entering a competition for an avant-garde hairstyle.  She had to submit one photograph of her model wearing the wig she'd created, so she wanted a pretty fabulous outfit for her.  I haven't seen the photos yet but I'll post them when I get them!

This one was a bit of an experiment for me as I normally create shaped cups.  Rachel wanted her model to have lots of lovely cleavage though, so I drafted straight bust lines and just used sprung steel rather than spiral.  It's quite long over the hips with a nice wavy line.  There are little suspender tabs inside (3 on each side) for suspenders to hook into also.

It is made from black delustered satin, is bound in the same and has black size 00 grommets.

This corset will have more life after its photoshoot as Rachel selected a model with a similar size to herself so that she could run away with it afterwards.





The second one was for a client who didn't have much of an idea of what she wanted when she came in, but together we worked out a design that she is very happy with!  She wanted it to be mainly black but also have a feature colour of blue.   It fits much better on a real body than on my mannequin!  My client is planning on loosing a bit of weight so I designed it with a 10cm gap at the back so it can be closed down further.  She has two different removable modesty panels depending on how tight she is able to lace it.

This is a more traditional overbust shape for me, having shaped cups and a medium sweetheart neckline.

It is made from black silk dupion except the 2nd panels which are blue dupion and have a lace overlay. The binding and modesty panel are black dupion also. Lattice weave trim has been stitched to the top binding and a thin blue ribbon woven through.  It's left loose at the ends so that my client can reweave it or swap it out for different colours in the future. Thick blue dupion piping is stitched into the bottom binding and snaps have been attached for the removable black lace trim. It has black size 00 grommets and standard corset lacing.

The piping along the bottom came out a lot thicker than I had intended, but in the end it worked out well as at its original height it would have been masked by the lace trim.

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! 

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 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!

I have just completed another corset. There are a couple of wrinkles on the 2nd panel that I'll have to sort out with some pattern re-jigging, but apart from that I'm really pleased how it's turned out. I tried hand-finishing the binding on the inside and I think it looks really great. Quite soothing to do too, actually, so I think I'll be doing that on all corsets in the future.

Chris found the fabric in a pile of bolts at a clothing store that was closing down and selling all its fittings. I think it's really gorgeous, but what a bloody pain to match cotton to!!! After about 10 minutes pouring over the Gutermann thread stand I finally found a pretty good match though. I got the black lace at the clothing store too. It has a really nicely finished fishnet edge that I think looks great in the bottom binding.

( Pics under the cut )

Vital stats

Front Length - 26cm (10.25")

Fully closed:
Underbust - 73cm (28.75")
Waist - 62cm (24.5")
Hip - 90 cm (35.5")

• Front modesty panel behind the busk.


• Waist tape.


• Combination of sprung steel (around grommets and in the front) and spiral steel (around the waist). 24 bones in total.


• Triple-stitched seams.


• Woven interfacing fused to fashion fabric for extra strength.


• 100% cotton drill strength layer.


• Super soft 100% cotton drill lining.


• Two-piece grommets (size 00).


• Strong black poly-cotton lacing.

I've listed it on ebay and I hope to get $200 for it. Click here to visit the auction.