Corset Fantastic and Dressmaking Desires
Yesterday I finished all but the front centre boning channels on the corset. I tried it on just inning it shut and it is AWESOME. It may be slightly, but noticeably, too big around the bust and hips if I don't lace it fairly tightly. I am going to have to take a whole heap of material from the front openings to get it to fit. I think it will be fine under the dress, but I was hoping to be able to wear it over my normal clothes as a fashion item. It may look too silly for that. But we'll see how it works out, it is still a success so far.
I think the sizing issues come from the fact that I asked a person who had made it what length the front centre opening was - 13". Ok, cool. BUT, later, after making most of it, I read on her site that she added 1 1/2" to the length. So...presumably the front centre should only be 11 1/2", for the purposes of scaling. Which would make the thing fit more sensibly without having to take 1-2" off the front edge on each side. When I make another one I shall scale it up by 1.9 or 2.0, rather than a factor of 2.15.
I experimented with how to make the eyelets for the lacing - do I use metal eyelets, or cut a hole and buttonhole it, or poke something through the material, pushing the threads out of the way, creating a hole which I then buttonhole? I'm going to do the last one, as I managed to JUST make a hole big enough to get a reasonable size lace through. And my metal eyelets are crappy and not good. The boring a hole and buttonholing it produces a very firm eyelet hole that oddly seems a lot firmer than a metal eyelet. Kind of weird. But it does push a lot of threads out of the way that then all bunch up around the hole, producing in effect a very dense lot of threads. Maybe in the the weekend I will get some pictures so what I'm talking about is clearer.
To set the scene for what I am about to say, let me point out this - for each eyelet I have to poke first a nail, then a screwdriver then a pencil through the material to make a big enough hole, then I need to buttonhole it by hand. Now, there will be 28-30 eyelets on this corset. Then there is the 16th century style corsets (which, due to the period shouldn't have metal eyelets anyway) which laces up front and back and requires 66-72 eyelets. Then there is the test one I am making for my wedding dress which will lace up each side and could use anywhere from 20-30. And these are just the works in progress!!! How many eyelets am I gonna need to make! Millions! It'll take forever. I could theoretically use metal eyelets for some of them, with varying degrees of historical accuracy and so forth, but like I said, they just don't seem good. They are also actually hard to use, the ones I have, without punching a hole through all the layers of material first, and I have no way of doing that. Doing them by hand actually seems easier!
I need more pictures, all this text is boring.
I need to change some things about the way the blog looks but haven't worked out how yet. It is annoying how the place where I type, and the preview, don't seem to properly represent what ends up on the page either.
Anyway, dressmaking desires. I have been looking at one person's site today, The Costume's of Jenny La Fleur, and I very much want to make lots and lots and lots of things. Actually, writing all that other stuff I just wrote has kind of made me forget about it, but believe me, just before I was filled with desire to make lots and lots of clothes and costumes. There are so many pretty things to make, plus I must keep planning my wedding dress so that I can actually make it at some point, and there are other useful things, like another really good pair of trousers, that I should do some time. I would like to embroider some pretty things too sometime; but all these things take so long!! Where is all the time!!
I think the sizing issues come from the fact that I asked a person who had made it what length the front centre opening was - 13". Ok, cool. BUT, later, after making most of it, I read on her site that she added 1 1/2" to the length. So...presumably the front centre should only be 11 1/2", for the purposes of scaling. Which would make the thing fit more sensibly without having to take 1-2" off the front edge on each side. When I make another one I shall scale it up by 1.9 or 2.0, rather than a factor of 2.15.
I experimented with how to make the eyelets for the lacing - do I use metal eyelets, or cut a hole and buttonhole it, or poke something through the material, pushing the threads out of the way, creating a hole which I then buttonhole? I'm going to do the last one, as I managed to JUST make a hole big enough to get a reasonable size lace through. And my metal eyelets are crappy and not good. The boring a hole and buttonholing it produces a very firm eyelet hole that oddly seems a lot firmer than a metal eyelet. Kind of weird. But it does push a lot of threads out of the way that then all bunch up around the hole, producing in effect a very dense lot of threads. Maybe in the the weekend I will get some pictures so what I'm talking about is clearer.
To set the scene for what I am about to say, let me point out this - for each eyelet I have to poke first a nail, then a screwdriver then a pencil through the material to make a big enough hole, then I need to buttonhole it by hand. Now, there will be 28-30 eyelets on this corset. Then there is the 16th century style corsets (which, due to the period shouldn't have metal eyelets anyway) which laces up front and back and requires 66-72 eyelets. Then there is the test one I am making for my wedding dress which will lace up each side and could use anywhere from 20-30. And these are just the works in progress!!! How many eyelets am I gonna need to make! Millions! It'll take forever. I could theoretically use metal eyelets for some of them, with varying degrees of historical accuracy and so forth, but like I said, they just don't seem good. They are also actually hard to use, the ones I have, without punching a hole through all the layers of material first, and I have no way of doing that. Doing them by hand actually seems easier!
I need more pictures, all this text is boring.
I need to change some things about the way the blog looks but haven't worked out how yet. It is annoying how the place where I type, and the preview, don't seem to properly represent what ends up on the page either.
Anyway, dressmaking desires. I have been looking at one person's site today, The Costume's of Jenny La Fleur, and I very much want to make lots and lots and lots of things. Actually, writing all that other stuff I just wrote has kind of made me forget about it, but believe me, just before I was filled with desire to make lots and lots of clothes and costumes. There are so many pretty things to make, plus I must keep planning my wedding dress so that I can actually make it at some point, and there are other useful things, like another really good pair of trousers, that I should do some time. I would like to embroider some pretty things too sometime; but all these things take so long!! Where is all the time!!
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