Second Fitting!

More corset today. Me happy.

This afternoon I assembled the shell of in order to perform a second and final fitting before sewing layers together and adding bones. In this photo you can notice the flat planes of the corset in the middle of the body: that’s where the waist is! The off-white piece in the center is a lining piece, flipped out. Once the shell is assembled and modified (if necessary), any changes are made to the lining pattern as well, the lining is sew together, then layers are basted. I hope to be moving on to basting by tomorrow.

So from here I laced (rabbit-ear style) and put the corset on – with my mom’s help. While eating a hamburger, by the way – and thinking of the scene in Gone With The Wind where Scarlet refuses to eat before putting her dress on in order to fully enjoy the upcoming barbecue at the Wilkes’.

Yeah, whatever. It’s a great book.

Sadly, my stitching lines on the wrong side did not form smooth curves; now while there are no noticeable problems from the outside it still irritates me. I have this hunch that my little Kenmore couldn’t quite drive the needle in and secure the duck well enough – that fabric is quite stiff and strong. Since my Lady 201 is in the shop { sniff! } I will have to try – my Spartan! I have a hunch it will perform better than Sears’ equipment.

OK, I owe it to my three readers to show a picture of my fitting:

I absolutely shudder to post a photo of such low quality. But aside from that – you know what? It fits quite well except – it laces shut in the back (instead of the goal 2 inch spread)! Do you know why? Because I sewed it with 1/2″ seam allowances instead of 5/8″. Do the math and you’ll discover eight seams times 1/8″ extra ease = 2″! This means I measured and designed the pattern perfectly for my shape. You know what? That feels very, very cool.

So even though this means I will have to tear out and resew all eight seams I am completely ecstatic that the math works out and I have measured and designed the pattern correctly.

I want to add a few more notes: one, fitting properly means the side seams, upper back, and lower front hem are not too long such that the bones will dig into my body. Perfect. I noticed that for my size I do not seem to have a long or short torso; good to know for future garments.

And – yes, the corset is very comfortable. In fact, it feels amazing on my back.

I’m kind of sad you can’t see my extra-long fly on my jeans, which I bought as work pants for Froghill over a year ago. Mr. Dawson would have been proud.