seam ripper and cork

The real secret here is the cork. Of course, where would I be without a seam ripper? I've ripped out 32 seams so far on the corset I'm currently working on. (26 of those were taking apart the pieces from the last fitting, but they count.) I can't imagine picking those seams out with a small pair of scissors. 

But the cork. I have yet to find anything better for capping the end of the seam ripper. Hard plastic caps crack, soft plastic covers are eventually sliced through. I've tried taping covers on, which gums things up, and a small knot of fabric was soon shredded. However, the cork does not come off until I want it to, it protects other items in my sewing kit from the seam ripper, it's easy to put on and take off, and, if I accidentally drop it between the washing machine and the dryer, it's easily replaceable. A cork also makes the seam ripper immediately identifiable. Gone are the days of, "Is that the seam ripper? Nope, it's the screwdriver." If anyone knows of a better stopper for the end of a seam ripper please let me know. 

So let's raise a glass to the cork. Oh, and the seam ripper too.

the tailor's shuriken

Sometimes it's a hassle to have to uncoil the tape measure, line it up against the fabric, and count out 13/32 to mark a spot. Especially if you have to do it multiple times, say for measuring the distance between bone casings or marking how long embroidery stitches must be. A tailor's shuriken is the weapon of choice for these situations. Just rotate the disc to the desired measurement and hold it to the fabric. Easy peasy.

I can not vouch for the accuracy of this as a throwing star, only as a measuring device. I also can not vouch for the accuracy of the term "tailor's shuriken." There could be another name for this tool. I wouldn't use it though. 

salute to scissors

For the next ten days I will be separated from my sewing machine by 2000 miles, so it's time for a salute to sewing tools. First up, scissors. 

I love my scissors. I have many pairs, these are just the first three I grabbed. My favorite are the Gingher 8" dressmaker's shears in the center, they cut fabrics perfectly and stay nice and sharp. I never let them touch paper. That's what those giant ones at the bottom are for, cutting cardstock when patterning. I no longer use those much, I've discovered I can cut patterns much quicker and more accurately with and X-ACTO blade, but they are still an impressive pair of scissors. The little crane embroidery scissors are also from Gingher. When my mother gave them to me I thought, "When am I going to use these?" The answer, all the time. If you enjoy looking at scissors (and who doesn't?) you can browse through museum collections and find interesting ones like this pair.

© Victoria & Albert Museum (museum number 402-1894)

Or you can take a look here and get a nice overview of various scissors designs.

taking shape

With the bone casings sewn the the silhouette is more visible. It looks like this corset will have a nice shape.

I'm not thrilled with the puckering and hope pressing will smooth everything out.  But I am pleased with the waist tape. It doesn't show through so much it distracts, which I had been worried about. Here it is from the inside.

I was so happy when I flipped the corset to take the picture and it held the curve at the waist instead of going flat. I think (hope) that's an indication of the even nicer shape to come.

waist tape

Patterning a waist belt proved to be difficult. Cutting one piece of fabric to run around the waist and flare with the curve of the body, that is not cut on the bias, is beyond me. At least with the corset patterned as is. If I made changes to my altered pattern I think it's doable, but that can be done with a future corset. For this one I'll just sew in a regular waist tape. I've pinned petersham ribbon in the interior of the corset at the waist line.

The waist tape will be held in place by the sewn bone casings. Here's a view of the basted on casings from the exterior of the corset.

You can see the exact moment I realized I didn't need to baste all the bone casings as securely as they were over the cording at the bust. There it is, at the waist line, on the casing between the third and fourth panels. 

The casings that will go one the first panel between the busk and the seam of the second panel, and on the last panel between the seam and the lacing, will be placed after I sew the busk and lacing strip on. I should probably do them before, but I want to evenly split the difference in space and am afraid a casing will be off to one side if I sew them first. And I made a change on the casing for the fourth panel. On Norah Waugh's pattern it's two pieces of boning in a wide casing. But a 1 inch wide casing left less than 1/4 inch on each side of the next casing and it looked bulky and off balance. I'm going with a single piece of boning and have faith it will do the job.