if you sew

[holli]

and are a Renn Fest type, these links might be useful. They're what I've used for the bodice I'm in the process of making.

Start with the Custom Corset Pattern Generator at the incredibly thorough and generally awesome Elizabethan Costuming Page. Once you have your pattern drafted, you can modify it into a bodice with these instructions.

I already had my outer and lining picked out, but I honestly didn't know that much about actual construction of a garment like this, where the boning should go, all that stuff. Luckily for me, the Tudor Costume Page has wonderfully simple, illustrated instructions. Now that I understand how this thing is put together, all I need is a sewing machine that *fucking works*. Not that I'm cranky about that or anything.

In the meantime, I'm going to hit the fabric store to get what I need for the interlining, plus grommets and lacing and all of that. Actually, I might also buy fabric for a second bodice, so I can do a trial run without messing up my barely-enough-for-this-project outer fabric.

Comments

[delle.livejournal.com]

don't buy cheap grommets! if you're planning on using the corset more than once or twice, order good grommets from corsetmakers (I'm told you can get good ones at Lowe's [hardware store] too, but don't know that for a fact). you want grommets that *roll* over the edge, not split and spread, which is what most grommets at fabric stores do. the split grommets will catch your laces and shred them.

[er.... hi~ was pointed here by a friend that knows how much I love costuming...]

[holli.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I hadn't know that about split grommets, though I had known they make the fabric less stable (since you have to cut a hole to put them in) so I was contemplating hand-sewn eyelets with a great deal of dread. And now I don't have to!

[delle.livejournal.com]

oh~ also, don't cut a hole for the grommets - use an awl and carefully push the threads aside for the grommet. it takes time - they make corsetmaker awls, but I'm too cheap to buy one - so I use my husband's tool box awl. takes probably 5 mins (???) to make the hole (I start at the tip and keep pushing pushing pushing gently until I'm all the way at the handle, then insert the grommet) but it's worth it in the long run, for fabric integrity.