summer corset on clothesline

This corset was looking a bit dingy after all the handling so I gave it a quick wash in Woolite and cold water. Now it sparkles.

Still not done yet, but almost.

finishing the cane boning

Inserting the cane boning was a bit more difficult than anticipated. But it's all in.

The channels were so tight the bones had to be slimmed down so they could slide in. Why the cane slipped in when I did the tests but not on the real corset is beyond me. I cut a millimeter off each side of each bone with Henckels kitchen shears. 

The finished pieces measure 6-7 mm across. The bottom reed is before trimming, the top after.

Still, it was slow going. Aside from being snug, the gessoed cane did not slide easily against the coutil casings. And there were a spots where the folded under seam allowance of the casing would catch under the cane and ride up over it. Brother. I bent two pieces of cane while pushing them in, fortunately I prepared extra pieces for just such a situation. I can not imagine how difficult it would have been if I had tried working with damp, soaked cane. No matter. The rounded cane fills out the fills out the casing nicely and is very light. Next steps, press, finish bottom edge, and lace it up.

flossing ideas

While giving my hands a break from inserting the cane bones in I've been kicking around flossing designs.

I want the Eiffel Tower inspired Xs to vary a bit, maybe be jazzier at the top of the corset than the bottom, and I have to get the right weight and length to the Xs. Catherine Hay, editor of Your Wardrobe Unlock'd, visited the Symington Collection archives and was able to snap some photos of a giant flossing sampler, a great reference. Those designs make my flossing scribbles look pretty boring, but I should probably stick to something simple. I've also sketched out a few ideas for embroidery on the cording. The triangles at the spot where the cording meets the bone casing look nice, but a light row of Xs in the lower space between cords might be more in keeping with the theme. Thoughts? Suggestions?

finishing the top edge with bias trim

The top edge was finished with bias tape dyed to match the warm grey thread. I pressed it first so the front edge of the bias tape was 1/8 shorter than the back edge, that way when I sewed I was sure the back would be stitched down. Then I just folded the trim over the top edge of the corset and sewed it from the front. I went with exposed stitching because I felt it looked right with the stitching on the bone casings.

The trickiest thing was tucking the corners in at the low center "V" point. I was struggling with folding the end in until I thought, "What would Robert Lang do?" I decided he would not try to stretch or jam the bias tape into any position, he would gracefully fold it in on itself until it was flat. So that's what I did. So that I may do it again I drew a diagram.

The views are all from the interior of the garment, so wrong side up.

cane prep

Sand, soak, flatten, paint, trim. Those were the steps I used to make the cane ready for the corset.

The first piece of cane on the left is straight from the roll. The second has been sanded, soaked in a bucket of water, then laid between two towels with pots and pans on top serving as weights to flatten it. The third has two light coats of Liquitex gesso, and the tip of last one has been clipped and sanded to round the end. The cane started like this,

and ended up like this.