A Look at Sidney Eileen

I don't know how many parts this will have when all is said and done. If I have a chance after working on this corset, I will post a blog detailing the work done, including photos.

This is a Victorian-style corset with quilted gore piecing. The core is two layers of coutil on the panels, three layers of coutil on the gores. The cover material is peacock blue dupioni silk. The lining will be plain cotton. Boning will be spring steel flats, flossed in place.

There are six panels and four gores per side. I started construction with the panels, sewing each side together in total. The cover material was treated as one layer with the coutil. There is a seam at each corner of each gore, so I can use strong folded seams, rather than cutting into the body of the fabric to create an insertion for the gores. If you are using a pattern that requires cutting a slash for gore insertion, follow the instructions except all folded over fabric starts from the end of the slash rather than a seam opening.




Each seam was lock-stitched (or double-stitched), wherein the seam is sewn over twice. This makes for a much stronger seam, which is very important, because I will be ironing the seams open, rather than my usual treatment of folding it to one side.




Next I sewed a contrast-thread basting stitch along each fold-line for the gores. If you are slashing for your gores, sew this basting stitch before slashing. The basting provides a clear marker for folding over seam allowance, and also serves to keep the cover and coutil layers from shifting during ironing.




As soon as all the basting stitches are in place, fold over the seam allowances and iron them in place. I had expected to slash the folded-over seam allowance in a couple places, but to my pleasant surprise the curved areas were on enough of a bias that they were willing to stretch iron smoothly into position.




I almost forgot to insert the waist tape, so it ended up being placed right before inserting the busk. For some strange reason my machine decided to fight back only while sewing the waist tape, so the stitches are painfully messy. Since they are just a temporary baste, I left them at that and continued with the busk.




Now I need to secure the insertions for the gores. To do this, I pinned the two core layers together with the gore edges matched up. This is a perfect application for those bent pins I end up with by my normal habit of running over pins with the machine. They will hold thick fabric without distorting it, just like a really expensive hooked pin.




My gores are cut with a 3/8" seam allowance, which I plan to trim to 1/4" after quilting. Thus, I sew 3/8" from the fabric edge. This is close enough to the edge to catch my seam allowance (which is 1/2"), but far enough that I will be able to snug the gores in between the two layers later. I left the bottoms of the bust gores open because I am not completely sure what boning pattern I will be using, and I may need to insert a bone or two through that space before finishing the outline of the gore.




Pinning of the front hip gore.




Front hip gore sewn, and back hip gore pinned.




Both hip gores sewn.




I removed all the basting, including the ugly-ass waist tape basting. The waist tape is now held firmly in place by the gore stitching, so I can get rid of that eye sore. The basting tape at the fold lines for the gores should be easy to remove if you used contrast thread.




That's all for now. I'm contemplating a couple different boning patterns and have a couple other corset projects that will take up time this week. I may or may not have a chance to sew more on this corset until after Thanksgiving.

My latest commissioned corset is a fully reversible waist cincher, with red satin on one side and black satin on the other. The core is two layers of coutil, boned with 1/2" flats except for either side of the grommets, which is 1/4" flats. Piecing is seven panels per side, for greater stability despite the hourglass figure. When drafting, I try not to create panels that are more than 2.5" inches wider than the hip than waistline, because that creates too much bias and makes the pattern more prone to turning out larger at the hip than intended.

I have found satin to be unforgiving when added as a cover layer at the end, so I treated each cover panel and its corresponding core panel as a single layer when assembling the panels. The stitches are made with buttonhole thread from the red side, on the assumption that if the black side is not precisely lined up with the red side, any slight variations in stitch position relative to seam will be hidden by black-on-black.





( More Views of the Corset )

I'm out of thread for the current corset project, don't have enough time to paint, and really, really don't feel like working on my web site, so I decided to write some musings on corset drafting. I'm not confident enough to write a full-blown tutorial on the subject yet, but hopefully some of this will be helpful to some of you anyway. If you have any thoughts, feedback, or other criticism regarding anything I write, please let me know. I am still figuring this stuff out.

I have noticed in various threads some discussion regarding measurements, particularly in regards to what measurements are needed for corset drafting. I use a measurement set that is small in comparison to many corseters. For circumference it's bust, underbust, lowest rib, waist (often the same as lowest rib), point of hip (high hip or highest part of pelvis), and hip (taken right above the articulation point of the hip joint). For height (taken either between the breasts or down the side), it's distance from bust to underbust, bust to lowest rib, bust to waist, bust to point of hip, bust to hip. Other measurements I might use are cup size (bra-top only), back length (nape of neck to waist), and back shoulder width (only needed for very high back with shoulder straps).

Most other needed measurements can be derived from these measurements, based on the proportions of the human body. It's very rare that someone would have proportions too off for derivation, and in those cases a mock-up (preferably in person) would be required for a good fit. The most common instance would be a woman with a bust that is two different cup sizes.

A great deal of corset design is a combination of body fitting and body sculpting. As far as I'm concerned, corsetry is a form of sculpting, because you are taking the human body and creating a garment that changes the shape to fit a fashion profile. Even when that sculpting takes a natural form, at least a little waist reduction is required to prevent the corset from shifting and chaffing while it is worn.

( Ramblings Continued, for those who are interested )

Sidney Eileen Victorian Corsets on Bustledress.com

To my great honor and joy, I am now the official corsetter for Bustledress.com, marketplace for womens' Victorian fashions, both authentic and modern-made. The examples are nothing stellar just yet, but more authentically Victorian designs are in the works in the coming months.

Color me tickled! :D

Listening by =sidneyeileen on deviantART


Watching Over by =sidneyeileen on deviantART

Both of these pieces are for sale.
Thanks for looking! ^_^

I'm very sorry that it took about three months longer than I had originally anticipated, but I finally wrote a tutorial on sewing a tabbed Elizabethan corset with boning that extends into the tabs. I posted it to Fashion Students Online. If enough people would rather not read it there, I will eventually be posting it to my web site, and then can re-post it in its entirety here. I probably won't get to it immediately, though.


Creating a Tabbed and Boned Elizabethan Corset - Part 1
Monday, 19 October 2009
In this tutorial, I explain how to create a fully functional, boned and tabbed Elizabethan-style conical corset. The pattern shown is not 100% historically accurate, but the shape is based on one existent historic corset, and is consistent with modern re-enactment. Part 1 instructs on the assembly of the corset.

© 2009 - Fashion Students Online

Creating a Tabbed and Boned Elizabethan Corset - Part 2
Monday, 19 October 2009
In this tutorial, I explain how to create a fully functional, boned and tabbed Elizabethan-style conical corset. The pattern shown is not 100% historically accurate, but the shape is based on oneexistent historic corset, and is consistent with modern re-enactment. Part 2 instructs on boning and finishing the corset.

© 2009 - Fashion Students Online

I hope it helps. If anything is unclear, or you have any questions at all, please let me know. I'll be happy to add any information I may have accidentally left out.

Joy of Joys, I finally went out with friends and took photos of myself wearing a couple different corsets, so I can have actual modeled photos! So far I have only uploaded photos of one of them, but here it is for your viewing pleasure.

It's a modern-style bra-top overbust corset, made from two core layers of coutil with cover material and lining. The cover is a linen blend with black velveteen cutwork, and I used a solid black velveteen fabric for the accents. The linen blend is pattern matched at all seams, including front and back closures. The grommets at the back are hexagonally shaped. The front closure is a combination of riveted boot hooks and riveted speed laces. The boot hooks proved immensely difficult to set without mangling them, so for now I am only offering the speed laces as an option for my custom corsets. The shoulder straps are made from double-satin ribbon looped between riveted d-rings.

The torso design of the corset is based on late Victorian design, with a low waist. It gives me approximately 3" of waist reduction, which is about the most I can handle without crushing my rib cage. Since most of my corsets are made over the internet without a mock-up, I made this corset for myself without a mock-up, as a personal test of sorts.




( 5 More Images Here )

Art On Display NOW

If you are in the Davis area and want to see my art in person my framed drawings are up at The Naturalist in downtown Davis, on 2nd St between D St and E St. http://daviswiki.org/The_Naturalist It's been up since Monday afternoon, will be on display for the Davis ArtAbout art walk this Friday evening between 6pm and 8pm (I sadly will probably not be present), and will be up for the following couple weeks.



Coming Event: Witchapalooza http://gotwitch.com This Saturday and Sunday

It's a brand new event this year, happening at the Cal Expo center on October 10th and 11th. I will have a booth where I will be shilling info on my custom sewing, and selling artwork and jewelry.

General admission is only $5, and kids are free, so if you're in the area please come by. I am planning to dye the mohawk green between now and then, so I should be easy to spot.



Other Things

There was a medical emergency in the family, and I have not had as much time as I would have liked for online, even to post event notices in advance. I have a couple more art pieces to upload, and a couple weeks back even went out with a couple friends for a photo shoot with my corsets. I'm looking very forward to posting some of the photos.

Yasha - Diptych by =sidneyeileen on deviantART


Sunset 1 by =sidneyeileen on deviantART

As The Raven Flies by =sidneyeileen on deviantART

I've been very busy the last couple months, mostly with good-byes, day job, and other unpleasantness. Two dear friends have gone away to grad school. I wish them both the best, and miss them dearly. Definitely keeping in touch.

I am working on several new corsets, and photos will be posted in the next couple weeks. I am also still working on the tutorial for making tabbed elizabethan corsets. I have all the photos, but have not had time to write the tutorial itself. At this point, it will probably happen in mid-October. For now, I am trying to get out orders, and painting my ass off so I have something to sell at Witchapalooza ( http://gotwitch.com ), a new event happening at the Cal Expo center the second weekend of October (10th and 11th). General admission is only $5, and kids are free, so if you are in the area come by and have fun!

More later. Gotta run!