She really is a funny girl...

Recap from my last post: we last left off with half an interfaced corset layer attempting a fit on my dressform. All is well, but lots more work to do.

A BLUE VEST! (Kinda.)

Once that side was "done", I sewed together the remaining pieces of the outer layer, so now we've got a three piece (one half and two quarters) corset that's haphazardly pinned together. If you recall, I am several inches taller than my mannequin, so I cut random strips of fabric to add length to the shoulder straps. Sewed it, pressed and called it a day. (Don't care, nobody will see).

It was time to make the lining or inside half of the vest. Originally I chose a solid navy (cheap) fabric. I figured this would make a nice contrast for the inside of the garment and I wouldn't have to spend more on pretty fabric. Who cares; nobody will see, right? So I cut and sewed all the pieces together, which didn't take THAT long because there was no piping on the inside.

However...even though I cut the exact same size pieces, my lining was somehow a little bigger than the outside layer, so it didn't lay flush with it. When I tried to line up each seam, width-wise, they wouldn't line up unless I pulled one side or the other and stretch it out a bit. Ok, I thought, well, maybe there should be a little extra to accommodate room for the boning channels. No matter. Let's move on.

(I'm going to use the  word "boning" a lot in this entry...use your best maturity...) Most corsets have boning, or strips/sticks of a hard steel or plastic that run up and down to create a firm kind of cage/shape and to hold your body in. PSA: PLASTIC BONING SUCKS. I have bought it several times in the hope that it wouldn't suck, BUT IT ALWAYS DOES. It's not even really any cheaper. It's just easier to cut because, well, it's plastic and a piece of crap. Don't ever use plastic boning.

Spiral steel boning - not as
 expensive as I thought!

Boning tips - this took two sets of
pliers to squeeze onto each bone.

I read a little about the different kinds of boning you can use and why one is better or worse. You can use spiral steel boning, which is nice because it's made of steel and very hard to bend or break, but it's also very flexible when it lays next to the curves of a human body. You can also use flat steel boning which is much more inflexible (and uncomfortable). It creates a very straight line that won't move, but because it really doesn't bend, it will not lie snug with your body (especially if you are curvy like me) and it can create a boxy look. Since I didn't want to test both right now, I went to Etsy and bought a roll of 1/2" spiral steel boning. You can buy it in pre-cut strips or in one long roll. The strips have to be cut to preset lengths, and since I didn't know exactly what those lengths would be...I bought a roll

Uncomfortable poke-y metal

When you buy it in bulk, you have to cut it yourself. (Luckily Dad has lots of tools.) You also have to put tips on the ends of each strip you cut. (when you cut each strip, it creates a very raw edge of uncomfortable poke-y metal that will easily rip through your cloth, so you apply smooth tips with pliers. I bought two dozen tips (one for each end of about the estimated 10-12 bones I'd use for this.

Now before I'd measure and cut each bone, I needed to create "boning channels" to sew into the lining. Because I was dumb and it was the only fabric I had (and the pattern told me to), I created my own pseudo bias tape with my pretty floral fabric, which took FOREVER. My channels were to be 5/8" wide (to accommodate 1/2" bones with a tiny bit of room, but so they'd still be snug.) so I cut 1" strips of fabric approximately the length of where I wanted to put them all.

Not my photo. (or my bias tape.)
But an example of what I did. (it takes forever.)

 

For these you basically fold in and press the two raw edges of the fabric strip, and then you sew the whole thing into your lining (hiding the folded-over edges) to create "channels" where you can slide the steel boning strips in and they will stay put. I created a couple of test strips which looked ok...but then it came time to cut and tip the actual bones.

Cutting steel is difficult, y'all. I borrowed metal snips from my dad, but even then it was difficult. With spiral steel boning, I learned that you basically just have to measure the length, and then cut one of the spirals on each side and it will snap apart. 

Metal snips...this hurt my hand. I am weak.

Tip both ends of each strip

Eventually I got the hang of it, but it was definitely a struggle for my tiny weak hands. After cutting, you use pliers to press the tip onto the end of the strip, squeezing the sides and top so it molds around the spirals and stays on.. This makes it smooth so it doesn't rip your fabric and poke into your sides.

So once I had done several of THOSE....I slipped each strip into the channels and held the whole garment up...and, uh-oh. Now my lining piece with all the boning channels was a good two inches smaller than my outside piece. As in, the sides did NOT match up even if I tried to pull at and stretch them. Somehow my POS navy fabric was pulling in all the wrong ways and was completely not sturdy. I think I had to start over. UHG.

All of this looks like crap. 

See how much it's pulling?

Yay for seam rippers

I have cut out these pieces 5 gazillion times now.

I knew it would be better in the long run if I used a sturdier/thicker lining fabric....so back to the drawing board. I decided to use my actual nice fabric because, why not, right. So after cutting out all the pieces AGAIN (surprise, I actually had enough fabric left over!) and sewing them together and ripping all the boning channels out of my navy lining and sewing them BACK into the nicer lining...things looked a lot better. (sewing takes a long time...)

My hands hurt a lot after all this.

I finished all of the boning channels and cutting all the bones (side note, make your boning channels end about 5/8" from the top and bottom edges of your fabric to leave room for the seam allowance and to finish the edges of the piece. If you don't leave enough room and your steel goes all the way to the edge you can NOT put it under a sewing machine needle. Leave plenty of room to finish all your edges.) Everything was laid out and lining up ok! Fixed my shoulder pieces, added length for my tall-ness, pinned the lining to the outer piece, held it up on me, and things were looking...acceptable! This thing is getting closer to becoming one piece!

IT LINES UP SO NICELY

 (Side note, I had not yet added the boning for the center front and center back pieces where the lacing would go. There would eventually be bias tape to around the raw edge to create those last boning channels, and I wasn't sure on final fit yet. The final bones would go right into the edges of the pieces, so when the laces were pulled tight, it wouldn't stretch the outer edge of each piece; the boning would hold it sturdy.)

I created a TON of double-fold bias tape because the entire piece would be finished in it (neckline, waistline, armholes, center seams...). So I cut a hugely long strip of fabric and took forever pressing the sides It was worth it though because you don't have to try and fold seams in and it finishes quite nicely if you do it right. You won't see any thread lines on the outside either (which was great because this thing was multiple shades of blue, so the thread color I chose would always show somewhere.)

Look how nicely bias tap finishes this shoulder edge.

I bias-taped the right-side arm hole (couldn't do the left side yet because it would have a zipper in the middle and I didn't yet know the exact sizing) but that made the edge look nice and pretty. I got to my next stopping point, because frankly I was wiped. (However, I had found the lace and trim I wanted to use! I once again draped it on the neckline and it looked SO PRETTY!  (I have this thing about reaching a stopping point and I have to hang stuff on my mannequin so it looks like it's some stage of finished...even though it's not.)

This looks totally finished (not.)

Next up: (hopefully) finishing the blue corset vest!