Corset Design Order No. 1

I've finished my Marie Antoinette corset and collected a series of corset patterns in different styles. So I've started to spread the word that I can do custom order corsets in whatever style and fabric of your choosing, and I've got my first order. A good friend that I've done costumes for before has asked for a red satin under-bust corset with shoulder straps. Sounds complicated, yes? Well, it's really not. By pulling together some of the patterns I have and altering them to her measurements, it should be quite simple.

The style of corset sits below the waist and goes slightly over the hip, accentuating the waist. This is a very traditional style in the 19th Century, especially the late 19th C (1890-1900). Because the corset has more womanly curves in the style than, say, a Tudor corset (my Marie Antoinette is a tudor style corset - yes, that's actually historically incorrect but straight style corsets were fashionable until around 1800), there are less bones in the corset and more "cording." Instead of having whale bone (now plastic boning) or steal bones, the corset is mostly made up of sewn channels in the fabric with cording pulled through those chanels. By having many of these tiny channels sewn close together with cord stuffing them, the fabric is given lots of strength and ends up holding everything in. It was done in the late 1800s because it was a cheaper way to create a stiff fabric than boning was. I love the look of cording, it makes the corset look more like a piece of lingerie than a clothing item.

There are a few more corset projects coming up. I'm gonna do a few as gifts for Christmas, and I have a few styles of corset that I'd like to make for myself - i.e. a riding corset and a corded corset.

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If you are interested in ordering a custom made corset, please contact me via my Production Design Webpage. Prices will start from around $110 (depends on the style, fabric and fastenings).