My first sheer corset experiments

So, in my last post I did a bit of background on sheer corsets, and identified some materials and idea's I am experimenting with. To read my last post click here: Sheer Indulgence

I have finished my first experiment with organza, and I am pretty pleased with it. Here it is with the panniers I finished yesterday. I shall be exploring the idea's of panniers in another post, but for a bit of light reading on bustle concepts (not too far removed from panniers) here is a previous post Bustle Cage Action if you can't wait for me.

To recap...this corset was made with two layers of silk organza with bone casings and trimming made from silk dupion, which is one of my favourite fabrics to work with. As I was in full experimentation mode I decided to use flat steel in all the bone casings and heat mould them in to shape rather than using spiral steel. 

After I finished my piece I decided to go 'hell for leather' and lace it as tight on the dummy as I would with a corset made from more traditional materials. My expectation was I could identify any weak points in the materials, but to my surprise there were no obvious weak points where the fabric has frayed away from the stitching. Fabulous!

In real terms I think that a transparent corset made with organza would not be suitable for daily use or prolonged tight lacing, but it has produced a very light and beautiful corset that I am very pleased with.

Sheer Indulgence

Following on from a post I made about sheer corsets : Sheer Beauty: New corset design trends I was sent an e-mail from a designer in New York asking me about materials for such a corset design.

Well, it just so happens, that as part of my never-ending desire to learn, explore and improve my designs I will be doing some experimentation in the next few weeks on the different materials available to make sheer corsets.....

There are various materials you can use in this process, all with a variety of their own properties, and as a designer I must find the right ones to use within my designs. I will be trying out silk organza, bra lining fabric, crin, tulle and cotton bobbinet.

Each fabric has it's own properties, strengths and weaknesses, I'll be starting my experiments with silk organza and cotton bobbinet.

silk organza

Tea dyed cotton bobbinet

First up I will be trying one made from silk organza, specifically from silk organza because it is sheer and strong. I prefer it over the polyester versions because I do not want a shiny corset, and it is a much nicer fabric to manipulate and work with than it's man made counterpart.

There are a few potential problems I can foresee with this fabric which are outlined as such:

•  I will need to make my bone casings out of an opaque solid fabric and into tubes so that I cannot see boning from either side of my corset.
• I need to sew 2 layers of organza together (as if they were fabric and interlining )and work them as one fabric with enclosed French seams for stability
• I may even need to stay stitch extra organza tape into the seams to stop the fabric pulling out of the seams.
• The waist stay needs to look lovely on the inside and the outside, and cannot be omitted from the design without the stability of the corset being weakened.

 

So here is my organza corset at stage one, I have just sewn the two layers of organza as one fabric and pinned it to my dummy. By next week I am going to topstitch French seam the corset and add the lacing panel, put in a waistband and test it for strength.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Sheer beauty: New corset design trends

I am really excited by the new wave of using see through panels in corsets. This is not an innovation by anyone's standards, Thierry Mugler did it in the 1990's with the help of Mr Pearl. Check out this beautiful example:

Thierry Mugler design, Mr Pearl corset

Mr Pearl, legendary corset designer, has often dabbled in creating see through effects in his corsetry, check out this nude corset, so beautiful in it's simplicity:

Kylie in Mr Pearl 'nude' corset

So the concept of using see through elements in corsetry has been around for a while, but recently I have noticed a bit of a trend in modern corsetry for this, and it is genuinely exciting.

Check out some of these stunners :

I love the stylelines of this Royal Black Corset. As you know I am a structure maniac, so this appeals to me on many levels but the purpose of this post I love the contouring and the play of cover and see through is super sexy.

Royal Black Corset

This example from English corset maker Jenni Hampshire, who's trademark lace detailing sits beautifully over a sheer base.

Sparklewren corset

Even Agent Provocateur are in on it, and although I don't strictly class this as a corset the style and detailing is really interesting...

Agent Provocateur

Going to take some inspiration from all of these sexy pretty things, looking forward to sharing my creations with you.