Photoblog: Maretak's corset

[janestarz]

It feels like the end of an era, which it - kind of - is. Before Christmas I started on Maretak's corset, and I had promised myself to spend most of Christmas working on it. Sadly, I was far too busy with family visits to do so. I finished the busk and one boning channel.
I did manage to spend one or two hours a night on it, and finally, yesterday I finished hand-sewing the binding. The needle I used was far too small, it kept going into my finger in the back in stead of into the fabric at the front!



Original fabric, to the right. Gingko leaves in green and white, lined with gold. It's a quilting cotton I found on e-bay.
The left is the fabric for Vuurdoorn, nathreee's dryad. One down, one to go!


The panels when they were cut out. If you look hard enough, you can see the pattern-matching.
The front modesty panel is not pattern-matched after all, because I mistook which side it would be attached on.


Front view. You can really see the pattern matching here!


Side view. More pattern-matching and lovely bias-binding.


The back view. I was wearing it for the first time, and it wasn't broken in. I kept the corset on for more than an hour, and at the end it 'settled' and felt like it could be laced a bit more.

Making it took well over 30 hours, I'm guessing, but I didn't keep track. I'm very happy with how it turned out and how well-paced the work was. By doing two hours a night I didn't get tired of the process at all!
The corset is very comfortable, and hardly has any wrinkles while I'm wearing it despite it only having 10 bones and the busk. I guess that's why you can't beat coutil!

Comments

[kass-rants.livejournal.com]

That's awesome, A! It looks really terrific. Very professional!

[janestarz.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'll be posting more professional shots once the rest of the outfit's done. I'm very glad with how this turned out, so glad that I'm not afraid to show yer the innarrrrrds. Yarrrr. =)

[nathreee.livejournal.com]

:D We are going to look sooo fenomenal! I have ordered some good facepaint in the right colours and I'm going to be scouring the internet for more nice examples how it could be done, and I must say: it doesn't look all that hard.

[steelweaver.livejournal.com]

^

[aseret-black.livejournal.com]

That is so amazingly pretty. The fabric choice is fantastic and the pattern matching is astounding. I love the choice of the same fabric as binding.

[muizenstaartje.livejournal.com]

Looks good. What do you have in store for the rest of the costume?

[degracieuse.livejournal.com]

Looking good, after the response of Nathree I have to say I'm curious to see the completed outfits and make-up on you!

[spydey70.livejournal.com]

Wow, kudos on the pattern-matching! The corset looks fantastic - I LOVE cotton prints on corsets :)

[anemoona.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's looking really neat, I love the pattern matching.

[janestarz.livejournal.com]

We will be more gorgeous than usual, even with lots of weird facepaint. Or maybe especially because of the weird facepaint, who knows?!

[janestarz.livejournal.com]

A skirt beset with plastic plants with white beady berries, a white longsleeve partlet-type top, a long coat with poofy sleeves, some strange little headdress with beaded veil, a lovely handjewel by Twi, and a kick-ass staff.
This is such an expensive costume...

[janestarz.livejournal.com]

Thanks! One end didn't go as well as the other, but I really like how it all turned out. It was thebatsmeow who showed me how lovely a quilting cotton can be, with her pink roses corset. And when we found these fabrics on e-bay, I just knew it would be purr-fect.

[janestarz.livejournal.com]

It's stressful, but worth it. And, when you know what kind of seam allowance you use, it's not that hard. The vliesofix made it easier, because you could see exactly where the pattern piece ended, and where the next one should begin.
I can't wait until you tackle a corset in your fourth year!

[janestarz.livejournal.com]

I'll be sure to post them on my blog when they're all done!

[janestarz.livejournal.com]

Shiny it is!