funnystrange.com

Today's lesson: I should never work on a project while tired, or while watching The Daily Show. I just set half the grommets backwards.

Unlike a seam, grommets can't be pulled out and done over. That whole end piece of the corset will have to be removed and thrown away. I have enough fabric to cut those pieces again, but I'm going to have to order more grommets. Oh well, it could be worse. At least it can be fixed without too much anguish.

The other lesson for today: the $36 grommet setter from corsetmaking.com is a complete waste of money. In case anyone ever finds this post while looking for tips on corset making, or grommet setting, don't waste your money on that grommet setter. The one that looks like a hole punch, with two handles. It's impossible to press the handles tightly enough to set the grommet. I ended up having to hold it down and whack it with a hammer, which was very awkward. The little grommet setter (just two pieces of metal you fit together and tap) is much cheaper and probably works better too. Although it wouldn't have prevented me from putting half of them in backwards.

Well I set out to put in the grommets last night, but it was kind of late and by the time I had attached the back facings, I realized that I was too tired to figure out how to use the grommet setter, measure and set 30 grommets without screwing up at least one of them. Which I do not want to do. So I made bone casings instead.

Bone casings, as you might guess, are the tubes of fabric that you put the boning in. Corsetry supply companies sell bone casing by the yard. A normal person would buy a few yards of bone casing, cut it to the needed lengths, and be done with it. But that would be way too easy for me. Oh no, I had to make my own bone casing out of the same silk I'm using for the outside of the corset. Of course, this silk isn't strong enough to withstand the pressure of tightlacing without the ends of the boning ripping through. So first I interfaced it with iron-on interfacing. Then cut it into 1" strips, each about a foot long.

Next the sides had to be folded under to make a 1/2" tube. The boning is 1/4" wide, so you'd think a half inch tube would be too wide. Aha, but you have to sew it down on both sides, and that takes a bit of width off. With a seam on either edge, it's a pretty snug fit as I recall.

Of course the bone casings all have to be exactly the same width. They're going to be on the outside and in a different color, so any variation in width will look really sloppy. The best way I've seen to do this is to set a pin into the ironing board with a gap of just the right width under the pin. Fold the strip of fabric, pull it under the pin and iron it as it comes out the other side, et voila! Neat little tubes of fabric, all the same size. The end you push through first ends up a touch too narrow, but I cut the strips a bit long so I can just discard the narrow ends. I did 15 bone casings last night, before I got so bored I couldn't stand it anymore. Unfortunately, I need 22. I don't think I can take bone casing again tonight, and it's early yet, so I'm going to work on those pesky grommets.

I just started a rather involved sewing project and I thought it would be fun to blog the project from start to finish, with photos along the way. (People who don't care about sewing should probably skip this whole series; I'm not going to give you a cookie for reading it if you don't want to.) Unfortunately I had this idea after I'd already bought the fabric and done the first bit of sewing, so I can't write it up from the very start. But pretty close.

The project is my Halloween costume for Lisa's party. I'm making this pattern. The whole thing: corset, chemise and drawers. I'll be Scarlett O'Hara before the ball. Fiddle dee-dee!

I made a corset once before, but I was a lot less experienced at sewing then so it didn't turn out as well as I might have hoped. It was a Victorian pattern from Past Patterns. They have a great reputation for authenticity, and the saleswoman was very helpful on the phone. I bought the "corset kit" from them which includes everything you need. It's great for a first attempt because you don't have to figure out what supplies to buy, but the fabric is kind of ugly. Plus there must be something funky about their sizing because it never fit right, especially in the bust. I cut it open and took the boning, busk and laces for re-use. I guess you could call it my "parts corset."

This time I put more time into planning so it will look nicer and (I hope) fit better. The pattern is to be made out of only one layer of fabric, with the boning on the inside. Corsets need to be made out of very sturdy fabric with very little give, but these fabrics tend not to look very nice. So I'm making mine out of three layers: duck canvas for strength, a simple cotton lining on the inside for comfort, and a pretty dupioni silk (on sale, yay!) on the outside for show. Also, instead of putting the boning on the inside, I'm making it out of a contrasting color of the silk and sewing it to the outside. I got this idea from a corset-making website and though probably not authentic, I think it will look nice.

The first step of course was to sew the layers together. Actually, the very first step was to edge the pieces with a zigzag to prevent unraveling. Normally I wouldn't bother when the edges will all be enclosed, but this silk frays so fast I figured I'd better do it, just to make it easier to work with. I did not edge the canvas or the cotton lining. But I digress.

OK, so the first step was to sew the pieces together. As you know if you have ever sewn anything, you always put the right sides of the fabric together, so that when you open it up the raw edges will be in back and won't show. But in this case, the raw edges are going to be hidden under the boning, which goes in front. So I had to sew everything with the wrong sides together. I was nervous about screwing this up -- it's just the kind of thing I would get wrong when hurrying, and I don't want to have to rip out any seams in this silk -- so I double checked each seam before sewing.

The only other complication was that the canvas was too thick to take pins. So I had to go slowly and just sort of hold the fabric together, an inch or two at a time. Actually it wasn't that bad. Since none of the fabrics are slippery, they stayed in place pretty well.

The second step was to flat-fell the seams. I wish I had taken photos of this step in progress because it's kind of hard to explain, but I found a page with photos here. Basically it means trimming one side of the seam allowance so it's shorter than the other, turning them to one side (with the longer one on top) and then sewing them both down. It makes a nice strong seam (because the seam now has two rows of stitching, not just one) so it's used on seams that will get a lot of stress. Like in jeans, or a corset.

Normally you would fold under the long edge of a flat-felled seam, so all the raw edges are neatly enclosed. I didn't bother with that here because the whole thing is going to end up underneath bone casings. All I need is the added stability.

And that's how far I got in one evening on my corset. Reading back over it, my post makes the work sound rather tedious. But it really is fun, in the sense that focusing on the details of a challenging project is fun. If you're still with me, the next installment will probably be putting in the busk and grommets. I'm supposed to do the bone casings next, but I want to be able to try it on first, since it will be a lot easier to alter before the boning is sewn in.