An early sewing triumph

There are a lot of things I really love about this corset.

First of all, there is the shape it gives me, such smooth, graceful curves. I think it makes my torso look longer, which I appreciate because I am pretty short waisted. The shape of the bottom edge and the hip coverage have kept this corset in my wardrobe for a decade. The curvy bottom is very eye catching and feminine. The fit was excellent. I have since made garments that fit better, but for a first try, without a mock-up, this one is as close to perfect as it gets. In the intervening years I have gained and lost 70+ pounds, and I was able to wear this corset uring a lot of that time. It didn't always fit perfectly, but it was at least as good a fit as many off the rack corsets you see around.

I think the fabric is so pretty. It is a heavy weight, asian inspired upholstery brocade that I found on clearance at Hancock Fabrics. I had been saving it for a while, trying to come up with the perfect project for it, and I think this was definitely a winner. It is just polyester and the hand isn’t great, but the pattern is right up my alley. I actually just found a leftover scrap of it over the weekend while going through boxes of fabric. I don’t know if it is enough to do much with, but I still love this fabric.

I’m glad I went out of my way to get the black grommets. Brass would have been so distracting against this fabric, and I don’t think silver would have been much better. I actually made my own satin bias tape for this project. I rarely do that and it was a nice finishing touch for the corset, but we can talk more about bias and grommets tomorrow.

I have taken detail shots of the corset and I am more than a bit nervous about posting them tomorrow. It is one thing to say “The corset isn’t perfect,” and quite another to show exactly what is wrong with close up photographs.