Starting over. Again.

So here's an old new blog.  How did we get here?  Well ...  A long long time ago, seems like half a century but in fact it's really only about 10 years, I made my first corset.  I was inspired by lots of things, but I think what finally did it, was the day I met fan dancer Gwendoline L'Amour who had with her a little tiny suitcase stuffed with costumes, and the most beautiful corset I'd ever seen.  This wasn't hard as I hadn't really seen any real corsets up to that point.  It was black silk, encrusted with amber jewels and a matching bra.  "It was made for me" she said casually as if all women have beautiful things made for them every day and as if she was saying 'this old thing' whilst handling what looked like the crown jewells!   "MADE?" I thought?  Aren't these things just magicked into existence for goddesses to wear?  Happily it seems not.  That was one of my moments in time.  There have been others that led to this point, but that was the one specifically to do with corsetry.  It was a defining moment.

This was maybe the third corset I ever made.  Modelled by moi!
It's the Laughing Moon Dore pattern

Quite a long time later, I took a year out and honed my sewing skills.  It was a time when craft blogs were just starting, dressmaking wasn't a thing, and if you searched for 'how to do a vintage hairstyle' you may have been sadly disappointed at the lack of information.  But I started a sewing blog and filled it with silly sewing projects, and domestic tidbits.   During that time I had ideas, and those ideas developed, a business was born, and here I am today.  I outgrew the blog but there were some interesting bits on there.

Those interesting bits, are now here.  And the boring domestic bits are still on the old blog.  I've edited the titles and on some posts i've put "edits from the future" because it's funny how things turn out sometimes.

The old blog.  I still have designs on vintage style but they are corset-centric now

Everything from this point on will be new musings concentrated on corsetry and couture.  I've come a bit of a way since the first post here!  I've got a thriving online haberdashery shop which is in it's 6th year of business, specialising in corset making components, I've founded an International Conference, with it's it's third year nearly booked out already, and I've been teaching corsetry for the last 5 years in and around Oxford, but over the last three years, from my woodland studio in West Oxfordshire.  I've had students come from all over the world to learn corsetry with me and have just launched The Oxford School of Corsetry, the only school dedicated entirely to the art of corset making in the whole wide world!   You can read about some of my journey in the past posts here, and I hope you enjoy reading about the further adventures of Sew Curvy and all it's bits in the future!

The last corset I made for Oxford Conference of Corsetry.
This is the Pearls of Wisdom Corset and was inspired by the Fellows Library at Jesus College
modelled by Liv Free and photographed by Scott Chalmers

Improving your corsetry with antique patterns

One of the best ways to learn corsetry is to examine and make antique corset patterns.  These patterns are widely available either via collectors who have taken patterns from antique corsets in their collections, or via Google patents, or via the many historical costuming books available, the most popular for corset making being "Corsets: historic patterns and techniques" by Jill Salen which contains a veritable compendium of historical corset patterns to scale up and try.

Ref R pattern from Atelier Sylphe available here.

One such pattern I have made was from Atelier Sylphe who takes corset patterns from her lovely antique corset collection - these patterns come in one size only (the size that the corset happens to be) and with very scant instructions however having tried two of them, I can report that her patterns are excellent and with each one, Joelle supplies a large number of digital photographs of the original corset from all angles, inside and out with plenty of close ups.  These are emailed to you upon receipt of your order.

I tried Joelle's  "Ref R" pattern which is taken from a beautiful corset with a gentle line and continious flossing over fully boned front panels.  This corset has 9 panels on each side and a hidden busk which I found intreguing.

The first thing to do when making up your antique pattern is to make a paper version of it.  Cut out your pieces, stick them together with masking tape.  This way you get an idea of how the peices fit together without wasting too many resoucres.  Minor problems, if there are any, can be ironed out at this stage and the corset can also be re-sized more easily when you can see a '3d' model infront of your eyes rather than a collection of flat shapes.  Sometimes with antique patterns there are extra parts which you can't quite work out until you 'do' them.  In the case of the 'Ref R' pattern, this was the hidden busk.  The pattern peices for both sides of the centre front panels where the busk is,  are a curious shape, there are no instructions for the pattern, you just have to trace the peice, and fold it until it makes sense - this is easier than it sounds and results in several "ahhh!" moments!

I resized Ref R by imposing it on my own corset block and basically copying the style of the panels to the size I wanted - I had to reduce the pattern because the original is a 24.5" waist and so would fit a modern (UK) size 10-12 lady.  I needed it in a size 8-10 in order to fit the model I was making for.

Now this particular corset pattern it seems was possessed by evil pixies and became known between my corset making friends and me as "The incredible growing corset"!! I made it no less than 3 times (after the initial toile), the first two times in expensive silk, the third time in less expensive loomstate cotton satin.  I wasn't taking any more chances and in future, I would always make up the 'final' version in a cheaper fabric first - just in case!  The problem, which I never fully got to the bottom of, was the number of panels and the number of bone channels within those front panels.  Basically, during the action of sewing it together, with welt seams at every panel, the corset stretched on each seam.  Version one ended up 4 inches bigger than it should have been, version 2 grew by 2 inches, version 3 was just right but only because I gave up and removed a panel thus changing it from an 18 panel corset to a 16 panel corset.  It is still somewhat of a mystery because if I measured the paper pattern peices they were correct, if I measured the corset panels individually they were correct, if I superimposted the paper pattern peices onto the corset panels, they were correct,  if I added up all the numbers on both the paper pattern and the corset they were correct, but put it all together, and petite sized corset became plus sized corset!  Totally infuriating and it still makes my head hurt.  The best way I can explain what happened is, if you think, you have 9 panels to stitch together... if those panels 'stretch' by 1mm each, perhaps by making a welt seam, then by the end your corset has grown by 1cm on each side.  That's nearly an inch overall without noticing!  These are things to be careful of when sewing any corset - handle with care!

The final version of my 'Ref R' corset has 8 panels on each side and is fully boned over three of the front panels.  The hidden busk is not constructed quite the same as the antique because in experimenting with the original pattern I discovered a better mechanism for modern corsetry and so I applied that method instead - the original has an underbusk, mine does not.  

The finished Clessidra version of  'Ref R' made from cotton satin coutil 
with french applique lace details and ivory 'diamond flossing'.
photo: Catherine Day

I'm very pleased with the way this corset turned out, and I have applied techniques learned from making this to other corsets that i've made since then.  I also learned a huge amount about corsets with more than a 'normal' number of panels and how careful you have to be when stitching... in short, the more panels you have, the bigger the discrepancy you could end up with if you're not careful.

he next corset I made was also fully boned, made using the same techniques as 'Ref R' but
did not 'stretch' while sewing and as you can see I used the 'diamond flossing' again
to pick out the boning structurephoto: Chris Murray

Construction details:  The 'Alice' corset was constructed with cotton satin coutil on the outide with a double layer of cotton canvas inside which supports the boning and the structure without the bulk of coutil.  It is lined with silk and embellished with french metallic lace in two colours.  The flossing is done using perle cotton size 8, and the boning used throughout the corset is a combination of 4mm spiral steel bones in the fully boned areas, 5mm spiral steel bones on the seams and 6mm sturdy flat bones at the centre back edges.  The pink corset was made using similar techniques and materials and in addition has Swarawski crystals highlighting the flossing and placed within the antique Edwardian lace applique.

Usefull links:

Atelier Sylphe shop - where you can buy full size antique corset patterns

Atelier Sylphe Ref R corset pattern

Buy 5mm boning used in this corset

How to scale up a pattern from a book - tutorial using a photoshop technique to accurately scale up patterns

Printing a digital pattern using photoshop - this website has a trillion other corset related links!

"Corsets : Historic patterns and techniques" by Jill Salen - book of antique corset patterns 

Google Patents - corset patterns

Clessidra Couture - bespoke corsetry by moi!

Oxford Conference of Corsetry 2013 - review

Just over a month after the corsetting event of the year, I've finally caught my breath and can start planning for next year the dates for which were confirmed soon after the end of the Conference.  Nobody wanted to leave theis year which I thought was a good enough indication that we can build on the huge successes of this year to make an even better event next year!  Excitement! 

My own perspective on the event is that it went better than even I could possibly have imangined!  There were less people than I had prepared for but ultimately that was good.  The group was not too small to make us feel like we were rattling around and not too large as to overwhelm the venue.  People gelled really well and some good and lasting friendships were made.  The venue staff were an absolute joy to work with - I have many years of experience as a conference organiser both as someone who organises large academic conferences and someone who manages the venue - my last venue job was Conference Manager at Keble College, Oxford, and so not only do I know how an event works from the inside, but I do have a very critical eye.  I simply wouldn't have booked a venue if I doubted their helpfulness or efficiency and Jesus has a real asset with their Conference Administrator Luke, who clearly has a natural gift for the job.  I hope they appreciate him.

My good friends and collegues did sterling work supporting me while organising the conference and teaching during the conference.  Alison who gave a superb fitting workshop with specially created mannequin, Dolly Button, gave me much moral support and helped with all the graphic design, Gerry who gave a fantastic masterclass taster on draping corset designs, enthused me no end with her excitement over the prospect of such an event and was a life-saver when it came to finding the wonderful photographer Chris Murray and liaising with corset queen Morgana who very kindly agreed to do the modelling alongside Victoria Dagger.  Jenni the embeillishment expert, kept the Conference Facebook page going by tempting people to book with snippets of the knowledge they could gain by coming to the conference, learning from experts and sharing information with eachother, and Marianne modelled to perfection although I am sad that we didn't use her more academic skills more fully - this will hopefully be rectified next year.

Dinner with Jesus!

Our guests Ian and Polly stole the show on Saturday night and I'm hoping they will both join in the fun again next year,  I didn't know it but they and others had their very first Pimms that evening!  Of course there would have been no event at all without our wonderful and talented delegates who completely personified the spirit of my vision which was to share knowledge, network, make friends and have fun!

We had generous sponsors too - Foundations Revealed paid for the wonderful Symington Collection of Antique Corsets to be present for examination, Proportion London provided mannequins for show, as did our friend Lucy at Corset Laced Mannequins, Janome supplied fantastic goody bags, Sew Curvy (that's me!) funded various parts of the conference, and we had generous donations of fabrics and embellishments from everyone but special thanks must go to both Lisa Armstrong of Elizabeth Armstrong Design, and Izabela Pitcher of Prior Attire who literally donated suitcases full of silk, lace, beads and trims!

Ian Fraser Wallace of The Whitechapel Workhouse, and muse extraordinaire Polly Fey

Most amazingly we were covered by the local press and radio and we were featured on the BBC News "In Pictures" website!

You can read a whole lot more about the conference from all sorts of different perspectives by following the links below and I'll be doing some separate posts on some of the guests and sponsors over the next few weeks.  I'll also be getting the details of OCOC'14 together, so do keep watching!

BBC News "In Pictures"

BBC Radio Oxford interview with Julia Bremble - forward to 2:25:20

Oxford Mail Article with pictures

Review of the Conference by Marianne Faulkner on The Lingerie Addict Blog

Review of the Conference by Clare Sager, attendee from Nottingham, UK

Review of the Conference by Sara Spookystitch, attendee from Minneaopolis, USA

Oxford Conference of Corsetry Facebook Page - for further updates and news

Studio shenanigans at Sew Curvy

I've already done several corset making classes this year including corset making for beginners, intermediate corset making, and how to make a corset pattern from scratch.  Most of my girls this year have been two or three times which is lovely because instead of a bunch of lessons, it feels like a nice sewing circle/social!

Erica, Emily, Tamina and Michele learning how to flat pattern a corset from scratch

One of the girls who came along, lets call her "Erica, Queen of Sewing Gadgets" had the most superb sewing machine, which I had been lusting over for a while before Erica brought hers to class. Upon seeing it's performance, I was immediately smitten, and I decided I had to have one!  I wrote to the nice people at Janome, and they sent me one on loan for a year in exchange for me saying nice things about her.  Well that isn't hard because she is utterly Fabulous!

She's ARRIVED!!! Glee!

And.. here she is:

My new Janome 1600P - she is fast.... very very fast

I immediately set to work on the wedding dress commission I have to finish by the end of this week, while my friend Izabela who had joined me for the day, worked on a very complicated corset drafted from an 1884 patent.

Scaling the pattern

Working out the stitching methods ..

et Voila!  An 1884 pregnancy corset (no she isnt!) come to life, with 'steam punk' customisation in process

The lining of my wedding skirt

Completely ironic really when you consider that Izabela's main occupation is making big flouncy dresses for her brands Prior Attire and Prior Engagement, and my main occupation is making fancy corsets!  

Bustle making classes with Prior Attire

Just coming up for air again, it's been non-stop as usual here at Sew Curvy / Marmalade Towers.

Teaching season began in March and since then I've had a few lovely ladies coming through the doors to fall in love with corsets, and a number of those very ladies have re-booked for further courses.    This weekend coming I have not one, not two, but THREE repeat students coming so it will be extra fun I'm sure!

Here are some pictures from Izabela Pitcher's Prior Attire courses which covered all manner of Victorian Underwear ...

Here is Helen making a semi hooped petticoat with broderie pleated trim.
This was to be worn under a dress for a masked ball!

This is Jane who has been on two corsetry courses with me and who is
making a Steampunk costume

Does my bum look big in this?

Here is Suzy making with her petticoat that goes over the hooped bustle petticoat

With and without the cage underneath

Does my bum look big in this #2 - I'm trying on EVERYTHING at the same time!

You can read more about Izabela's costuming exploits at her blog: A Damsel in this Dress.  Izabela's skills are amazing!  If you want to book a course with her, get in touch via her blog, and when enough people are gathered, the workshops take place at Sew Curvy!  Great fun!

Corset making classes commence!

It's already March which means it's nearly a year since I moved into my beautiful woodland cottage studio in Oxfordshire.  The reason I took on the studio wasn't just because my husband wanted to reclaim our house and make it free from 'work' (not to mention corset parts), but also because within the cottage was a lovely large workroom from where I could envision teaching lots of lovely corset making classes.

The first class of this year was Sparklewren's creative corsetry patterning masterclass a couple of weeks ago, but March, April and May are  very busy with  a corset pattern drafting course followed by a begginners corset construction course, followed by an intermediate corset construction course and then another beginners corsetry course which is already nearly full.  I am scheduling more classes soon!

The best part about teaching is that I learn as much as my students.  Each class is a feast of revelation for all!  Classes are much better than private tuition because of all the interaction between students - someone may ask a question that nobody else thought of, and you get 4 bodies worth of experience in one go.  This is invaluable and can't be learned from a book.   The courses are quite intense and everybody leaves as good friends -  my studio always feels rather empty on a Monday morning - a bit like the morning after the party with just the debris of a good time to clear up.

My egg mayo sandwiches have become pretty legendary!  We have vintage teas every day on each course, and these feature on the menu frequently.  The eggs come from my own chickens!  There is also plenty of cake and tea involved - all served up on beautiful vintage crockery and from about April onwards, the weather is usually good enough to eat on the picnick bench outside.

Many of my corsetry students have been back to me several times and this makes me very happy because I know it means that they had a good time in the Sew Curvy Cottage Studio, sewing, learning, chatting and lacing!

For more info on my corset making classes, click here:  Corset Making Classes

The incredible growing corset

So I've been very busy making a basic portfolio for a shoot which happened back in January. I made two fully corseted wedding gown ensembles, a couple of extravagantly lacy and sparkly 'fun' corsets, a daring bridal boudoir plunge corset inspired by an original from 1910 which I saw in the Symington Collection, and an 'every day' underbust corset which can be worn day or night - the equivalent of the LBD in corsetry. 

One of the bridal ensembles took it's inspiration from the film Funny Face with Audrey Hepburn. Ever since I was small, i've absolutely loved the wedding dress in that film and Audrey has long been one of my main style and beauty idols. 

The pattern was extremely challenging to make! At first, I used a pattern from Atelier Sylphe. I was attracted to the pattern by the closely spaced and uniform boning channels where I could see a beautiful regimented flossing pattern, long before Sarah Burton ever thought of it! So I altered the pattern to size and made it up ... by the time the shell was finished it had grown by a whopping 4 inches. After much head scratching and no solutions, I made another, being extra extra careful with my measurements incase i'd missed some vital step which I thought would surely reveal itself 2nd time around. It didn't. This time the corset was only 2 inches bigger than it should have been. Annoying! 

 I had by this time wasted 2 metres of extremely beautiful silk duchess satin, luckily purchased from ebay, so not the usual exorbitant (but worth it) price and a metre or so of coutil. oyster corset I was hell bent on doing the design because of the flossing, so I tried a third time but on this attempt, made my own pattern, copied some of the styling details from the original pattern and used cheaper materials incase of disaster. When the shell was done, it measured correctly, I had removed one of the panels, so the corset was now eight panels per side, instead of nine but hurray! No unexplained growth! Now the curious incident of the extra inches isn't the fault of the pattern. It's because there are so many bone channels, and so many seams - the original corset is 9 panels on each side, even a 1mm stretch on each seam therefore, will grow the corset irretreivably. I was therefore very gentle on the third round and my patience paid off. However, by this time, I practically hated this corset!!

Nevertheless, I pressed on. it was only a week until the shoot and I had no alternative but to finish it or be without one bridal ensemble in my portfolio which I wasn't prepared to forfeit. The corset is made from my loomstate cotton backed duchess satin. This fabric is a beautiful colour, drapes well despite it's heavy nature, is quite luxurious to look at and the weave is quite 'rough' which makes it interesting. The strength layer of the corset is made from 2 layers of cotton canvas interfacing and the corset has a floating lining of cream silk. The circular skirt which goes with the corset is also made from the loomstate satin which needed only one petticoat to have the required flare.

The corset boning channels are 6mm wide and these accommodate around sixty 4mm spiral steels. The seams at the sides and back of the corset are boned with around fourteen 5mm spirals, and there are 8mm flat steels at the centre back edges and either side of the eyelets for strength. Embellishments are French couture lace and perle cotton flossing. 

The corset also features a concealed busk which is fast becoming a trademark of mine. I am very pleased with the result and will definately use that loomstate cotton again for more bridal corsetry. 

Here's the finished look: