The Making of a Victorian Corset
12/19/04 - I have been working on my Victorian Corset for a long time now. I am using the Silverado from the Laughing Moon Victorian Underwear pattern. I have an event coming up very soon that I want to wear it for, so I have been working in earnest. I have some photos to share!
I originally bought a kit for the corset, but I have found out since that that is a bad idea. The kits don't really take into account how differently shaped we all are. I had to buy I longer busk and then I decided I wanted spiral steel instead of the German Plastic Boning that came with the kit. I bought the video "How to Build and Fit a Victorian Corset" from Farthingales. It was very helpful.
One of the first things I did was to practice setting the grommets to the back of the corset. This is where the corset will lace up. I was terrified of setting grommets! I was so afraid I'd mess it up completely. So what I did was to buy some cheap, white denim. I made up just the back piece of the corset, with both the front side and the lining side. Then I started practicing. I didn't have a proper corset-making awl, so I had to improvise. Incidentally, one is never to use an eyelet cutter to make the hole for the grommets. This will take away fabric that the grommet needs to grab onto. The idea is to move aside the fabric fibers enough so the grommet can just pass through the hole.
Starting the Grommet Hole
I used my tiny awl.
Gradually Making it Larger
I used a narrow paintbrush that was slightly larger than the awl, and passed it all the way through.
An Even Larger Paintbrush
Just a bit larger than the first paintbrush, and also passed it all the way through.
Finally, A Chopstick Inserted 1"
Inserting the chopstick just one inch seemed to make the hole wide enough for the grommet to go in.
Inserting the Grommet
The grommet is inserted from the right side of the corset to the wrong side (so the nice, rounded part of the grommet is the part that shows when one wears the corset).
Placing the Washer Over the Grommet
The washer is placed over the protruding part of the grommet, on the wrong side of the corset.
Placing Grommet, Fabric, and Washer on Grommet Setter Base
Inserting Setting Tool
Using Rubber Mallet to Hammer Washer Over Grommet
(never use a metal hammer for grommet setting!)
View of Grommet (outside) Side
View of Washer Side (inside)
After practicing, I felt confident enough to put the grommets in the real corset. The busk was a piece of cake after grommets. Finally then, I was ready to start stitching the pieces together. This was sometimes tricky, because I had to check and double-check to see if I was sewing the pieces right-side-up and in the correct order, with the herringbone pattern of the coutil fabric showing on the outside. The only problem I ran into was the correct pressing of the bust gore seams in order to topstitch them on the outside of the corset. I couldn't figure it out, and it was not completely clear in the directions. I initially did it wrong. Then I realized that, while the seam below is pressed open, the bust gore seams must be pressed flat to either side. I had already topstitched it, and so tried to correct it by stitching over with the rest of the seam allowance where it belonged, but the topstitching looked uneven and doubled up. So I ripped it all out and re-did it. It was a pain, but I'm glad I did it because it looks better!
Correct Pressing of Gores Prior to Topstitching
I finished the corset while also sewing a Civil War dress. Go here to read about it.