back to my current favorite project

Busk Before
Corsetry 101 for those unfamiliar: The back of this Victorian corset laces up. The front opens and closes with aid of a busk – sort of like a modern-day bra’s back closure. You sew the busk in, which is what I did today. The front center top of the corset is represented by the safety pins – a tip from the invaluable Laughing Moon DVD.

Stop & Go
After you trace the closure positions on the right-hand side of the corset (marking the wrong side of lining), you stitch and backstitch to leave openings in between the lining and shell. Then turn, press, and topstitch reinforce: you can see I’ve marked with pins where I need to leave an opening for the closures.

Insertion (tee hee!)
Here I’m inserting the right-hand busk side between lining and shell.

Reading For Topstitching
Topstitch busk in place. I did a pretty wonky job. Will do better next time; I need a different zipper foot for this.

"In The Light Of A Clear Blue Morning"...
Busk in place.

Insertion, Part Two
Setting post-side of busk. I’m starting to enjoy punching (or rather, awling) holes in fabric. This was easier than grommet setting (by hand, mallet, and die set) as well.

Giving It My Awl
To drive in awl: here my fingers are positioned on front center seam. Put the awl perpendicular while driving it in for the most exact placement.

Today I also applied shrink tubing to the ends of my laces (aglet and crimper will be bought at a future date) and am ready to sew the shell together for the second fitting. Fun and more fun!

(Flickr tag set on corsetry)

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