Ahistorical Corsetry

The trend was to make a thread accurate replica of a victorian extant corset. These beautiful flossed and lace trimmed recreations help provide the historical accuracy everyone really wanted. Wants? I think a lot of people have moved on to more fantastical historical visions. Fantasy informed by victorian silhouettes. And that's where I'm at. I need a cinched in hour glass figure, but with a cupped corset. This might not work, but I'm going to at least waste a lot of time trying.

My second mock-up was not coming together until I recruited a pillow and a stool. This was after a couple adjustments, and with some boning, but not all channels full. The original pattern was drafted flat from my measurements, with the bulk of the hip spring towards the back. This second version was similar to the first, but with a hip insert to encourage a more exaggerated round hip shape. I ended up adjusting the hip panels two more times, and I think I like it now. The goal was to minimize the size of the panels in the bottom front, and maximum the curve at the side seam. 

In the middle of making the purple version of the corset, I realized I had introduced an error. I finished the hip panels before installing them, and that was a mistake. The rest of the corset is going to be bound around the bottom edge, and it doesn't make sense for the binding to end when I get the panel, and then start up again on the other side. I should have left it unfinished. As a bonus, the finished edges are at different heights, and I'm not even sure how I managed that one. 

Up next is installing the cups and underwire. I'm not sure how it's going to work, which is why I'm thinking of this as the 4th mockup. But I might as well try and see if I can make it work. The underwire should help. One all the previous versions I've corded the cups for extra stability, but I think I'm going to try and skip that step for the final version and see if I can get away with it. 

brb