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This tutorial demonstrates in detail how to make an underbust or waist cincher Victorian corset using a synthetic sport mesh. Mesh corsets were made in the late Victorian, but they were constructed using strong, natural-fiber mesh, like linen canvas for embroidery. Heavy-duty sport mesh is a much more economical choice and works very well. Be sure to choose a mesh that is described for heavy-duty use, which has a mesh hole size of no more than 1/8".
When at a future date I make a mesh corset using natural fiber, I will take detailed photos and describe any differences in the construction.
The corset shown is a commissioned tight-lacing corset, with an 18" waist when fully closed. The mesh is a heavy duty sport mesh. The boning channels are made from black coutil. The 8" busk is backed. The re-enforcement is high quality polyester double-satin ribbon.
Piecing for a mesh corset is unlike piecing for any other kind of corset. I want to place the boning along each seamline, like with a normal corset. It will need to be cased in coutil, and that coutil is also needed to secure the mesh in such a way that it does not tear free. At scale size (graph paper) I drafted up a normal, vertical-panel underbust corset.
I decided to make 3/4" wide (finished width) coutil strips for the boning and mesh anchoring. The center of that 3/4" is the location of the seam line on a standard pattern, so to create the boning panels I removed 3/8" from both sides of each normal vertical panel developed at scale. Between each of those mostly-normal patterns, I created a 3/4" wide strip panel. Thus, the final pattern has 13 panels per side. The "normal" 6 are mesh, and each mesh panel is couched with perfectly straight coutil panels.
I decided that rolling over the mesh and coutil together would create a strong seat for the mesh, so the coutil panels have 5/8" seam allowance and the mesh panels have 1.5" seam allowance.
The three following images are the entire pattern for the corset. Sorry for the poor quality of the images. They are drawn in pencil, and the lighting was not ideal. The right-most panel on the top image is the grommet panel at the back of the corset. The left-most panels on the third image are for the busk.
The next problem was how to mark the mesh panels, which refused to hold chalk with any amount of handling. I decided to keep the mesh panels stacked with the pattern piece so I didn't lose track of which was which, and then I'll mark each with chalk immediately before sewing it together.
I took each mesh panel one at a time and set it over the pattern piece to mark. I used a rolling chalk marker, like the kinds marketed for quilting. I marked the seam lines, and the waistline point. The yellow chalk was willing to adhere to the polyester mesh just long enough to sew the mesh panel to the coutil on both sides.
After the mesh was marked, I pinned it to the coutil with the two seamlines matched up. On the coutil the seam allowance was 5/8", and on the mesh the seam allowance was 1.5". The mesh was marked along the entire seam, and I used the ruler to double-check that I am lining it up 5/8" from the edge of the coutil.
I used a very small stitch width (just a hair above 1) to sew the seam. That ensured that the mesh was captured completely, despite the small lines of fabric.
After the seam was in place, I pinned the other side of the mesh to its coutil. Then I stitched it into place.
After attaching each mesh panel, I secured it in place by rolling the seams. This image shows the un-rolled seam.
First I folded the excess mesh seam allowance over the coutil seam allowance and stitched it down. The huge range of stretch in the mesh fabric allowed it to be folded over without altering the coutil, no matter how curvy the mesh panel was.
Be very careful while sewing at all stages of rolling the seam. The biggest problem I had was a tendency to catch tiny bits of the body of the mesh panel into the seam. Trust me, it's very difficult to pick out the very very tiny stitches without harming the mesh.
Keeping the same side of the seam up, I folded over the coutil seam allowance by just less than 1/4" (slightly less than 1/2 of the seam allowance) and stitched it down. As I folded the seam allowance like this, it sandwiched in the full length of the mesh fabric, seating the tension of the garment along the full width of the fabric, rather than along a line of stitches.
Next I unfolded the garment so far, with the fold of coutil/mesh facing upward. The fold of seam allowance is folded onto the top of the coutil and stitched down. While stitching, be sure to hold tension on the mesh and the coutil panels, to keep the first seam as open and tight as possible. If you let it lax, you can end up with the garment not laying flat due to uneven amounts of fabric in one layer or another. Tension is also critical to ensure that the original seam (the one that defines the shape of the corset) is at the very edge of the coutil panel, without being rolled one way or the other.
After sewing together all the panels of the corset, this is what it looked like.
Some of the panels were a little longer or shorter than others. I took care of that when I trimmed the top and bottom edges.
Next I added support ribbon along the curves of the hip and the ribs. To do this I stretched each side across my thigh (yes, this corset fits on my thigh) so I could pin the ribbon in such a way that it smoothly followed the contours of the corset.
Then I carefully made sure the ribbon was in the exact same location on both halves of the corset.
After sewing down that ribbon on both halves, I repeated the process for the ribbon along the top of the hip.
Next I took the busk and finished sewing together the front panel where the hook side of the busk belongs. That finalized the locations of the hooks, so I could stitch down the ends of the ribbons in such a way that they will not block or interfere with the hooks.
I likewise stitched down the ends at the grommet side of the corset, and trimmed the excess.
Next I stitched the top and bottom support ribbons in place. They both extend a bit past what will ultimately be the top and bottom edges of the corset, and were stitched down to the coutil in exactly the same manner as the earlier two support ribbons. After stitching down ribbon on one half of the corset, I used a ruler to mark the exact location on the other half before attaching its ribbons.
Part 2 of the tutorial covers re-enforcing the grommets, finishing the grommet panel, creating the boning channels, creating the double-busk, and edging the corset.
I hope you found this tutorial helpful or interesting. If you would like more information on my custom corsetry and costuming, please visit my web site, http://sidneyeileen.com/zp/.
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Saturday, 10 April 2010
This tutorial demonstrates in detail how to make an underbust or waist cincher Victorian corset using a synthetic sport mesh. Mesh corsets were made in the late Victorian, but they were constructed using strong, natural-fiber mesh, like linen canvas for embroidery. Heavy-duty sport mesh is a...
© 2010 - Fashion Students Online
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