Couture corset, new techniques with transparency

If you have been reading my blog so far you know that recently I have been experimenting with see through corset techniques.

My latest couture corset, from the 'La Sanguine' Collection features some of these new techniques that I have been experimenting with.

Here is the finished corset in situ at the Vault of Metamorphosis exhibition held every weekend in May as part of the BrightonFringe Festival.

photo by Chris Bulezuik

In this corset I admit that I was a bit hesitant to make the whole corset using an untried method so instead I opted to use it on the corset collar, and now that I am happy with the limitations and strengths of it I shall be using it more extensively. What follows is a description of the technique if anyone else so wishes to have a go.

You will need pencil, scalpel, a length of  Vilene Decovil the size of your pattern piece plus seam allowances
as well as your chosen fabrics. I have chosen to make the scrollwork out of velvet, on top of a crin and silk organza which make sup the transparent layer.

Trace your design on the back of the Decovil, (the non shiny side) and cut out your scrolls where you want the transparency to be. You will end up with something looking like this....

 Then you need to fix your Decovil to your chosen fabric (cotton velvet for me) and make sure that your chosen fabric can handle the heat. Please follow the manufacturers instruction of application and test on a scrap piece first to save yourself heartache.

Once this is done stitch your layers together. following your scrollwork about 2mm from the edge. Then...and this is the trickiest bit, but out your top fabric where you want the transparency without cutting through your crin and organza (or whatever you chose as your transparency.)

Then, it's all down to you embroidering over the edges, hey presto!

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.