1904 done

Here it is.

And from the back.

These pictures are not the greatest, taken in a mirror, but I couldn't wait to have someone else at the shutter. All in all, not bad. There are several things I'd do differently if I were to build this corset again. I can not stand the stitching across the top and bottom of the busk and lacing strips. I'd sew them by hand to give a nicer finish. I'd use metal boning by the laces and use a smaller size grommet. These look just a little large in proportion to the rest of the garment. But I'm happy with the fit and with the changes I made from the mock-up. I would sew this pattern again. I'd love to try it with real ribbons or with by fusing satin to batiste to see how it works when lighter. Even though there are not a lot of bones in this corset the coutil makes it very solid. If one were to wear a corset while playing tennis or bicycling I believe this would be the style to wear. In fact, I'll take it for a spin on my bicycle and report how it functions.

Here are the statistics.

3 yards - 4" double face satin ribbon

4 yards - 3/8" double face satin ribbon

1 - 8" busk

2 - spools thread

coutil scraps

16 - double zero grommets

not even 2 yards (58") 7mm plastic boning

number of seams picked out - 10