White Rabbit - Wire Frame Mini Tophat

The second project from my millinery class--my White Rabbit top hat!

So the project outline was really open-ended: you had to make a wire frame hat, cover it with sheer fabric and decorate it to represent a theme/character. We were given the option of doing a mini top hat or boater that she had patterns for, or we could design our own hat shape. I picked the mini top hat because I didn't have time to pattern a new shape.

After going fabric shopping to get ideas, I found this really cool sheer blue-grey fabric. It had almost a paper-like quality to it. I thought it might make an interesting take on the White Rabbit. Since I have learned from theatre--stage lights wash out fabrics and make them look whiter, perhaps I could design a white rabbit while hardly using any white?

Here's a picture of the finished hat frame on top of the fabric. It shifts from blue to grey depending on lighting and instagram filters. Haha

I won't go into too much detail on how the frame was constructed. All the pieces of wire were carefully cut to length and bent into shape. I used quilting thread to tightly wrap the joints and then strengthened the bond with a mixture of white glue and water.

The brim and crown were not attached until after I covered it. It makes covering the pieces way easier.

I covered the crown and brim using 2 layers of my fabric. It was fairly sheer with just a single layer and I was worried it would rip. I like that with the double layer you get a ghost of the leaf pattern coming through.

For the crown I cut 2 circles overlayed, I draped these over the top holding them in place with pins. Then I pleated the fabric along the bottom edge to conform it to the shape of the crown. I basted this in place, attaching it to the frame. I cut off some of the excess fabric, but the rest would be tucked into the inside.

The brim was done in a similar way. I cut 2 long rectangles that measured the same as the outer circumference of the brim. These were each sewn into a long loop and folded in half over the edge. Then I pleated and basted them to the frame.

Next I created my ear shape. As you can see here, both ears are made out of one piece of wire. It would sit between the crown and brim and make them much stronger overall. I covered them with a white silk leftover from the painting and dye class I took last summer.

All of my cool accent pieces--laser cut clock, clock hands--were picked up from Michael's art store. It has a great selection of weird crafting bits. I got the clock hands in the DIY clock section, for example.

The gold fabric I used to make a hat band was leftover from my Steampunk Corset (I really did buy way too much fabric for that).

I sewed the ears to the brim base, then sewed my brim to the crown. Then I carefully tacked the side of the ears to the top of the top hat--I sewed the wire frame to the wire frame, not just the fabrics.

Next was the hat band and decoration. I sewed the hat band on, the sewed the decorations on. Before attaching the clock hands I sponged on some gold acrylic paint and sprayed them with a gloss finish sealer. This was to help them match the costume better.

Lastly, I sewed a felt circle to the bottom to cover the hole and seal it shut. Then I sewed a headband to it (which I also painted gold). I think later I will swap out the headband for alligator clips, but for now (and for handing it it) it was fine.

I'm really happy with how the hat turned out and I am in the process of completing a full design for the costume. I'm thinking I would really like to complete the outfit in the future...

Floral Cream Underbust Corset

Hey all! I made another corset this past winter. This is not an obsession I swear... This one is an underbust corset that is going to act as a waist cincher/posture modifier, to be worn under my Phoenix costume (which is currently on hiatus). I also made it with another future steampunk outfit in mind... 

Showcasing here the new pistol prop I bought in Austria last month. Also worn with my Long Pleated Skirt.

I like how the shape of this one turned out much better than my black corset. Instead of using a fashion fabric on the outside, I just used the coutil. Except this time my coutil has a cool floral pattern on it! I picked up this fabric from the Farthingales booth at CostumeCon32 last year. It's super strong and super pretty.

 First I used twill tape to mark out my seam lines on my judy. Then I draped muslin over those sections to get my pattern piece shapes. I used a pen to draw the shapes on the fabric, unpinned the pieces and then cut along the lines I drew.

The pattern I ended up with looked like this. I numbered my pieces from 1-7 (center front to center back).

After making a mockup and tweaking the pattern to reflect the changes I made, I reduced the pattern so that it would have a 2" gap at the back. This means that I divided 2" into 7 parts and shaved off that amount from every seam. I shaved off just slightly more at the waist so that part could cinch even tighter. 

Then I cut my pieces out of my coutil. Remember you need 4 of every piece, a pair for each side.

For the center back panels I first sewed the pairs right sides together along the CB edge, then turned them right way out and pressed them. I flat basted all my pairs together (excluding the center front panels) and top stitched all the boning channels. The 14 panels looked like this.

I added in the busk to the center front, then flat basted it and added the last boning channels. If you want a tutorial on how to insert a busk, go here!

Then I began to sew the panels together. This is done very carefully, lining up the flat basted lines and the waist line. Accuracy is your friend.

Then I cut my spiral bones to length and inserted them.

I made my own piping trim from leftover fabric from my Steampunk Corset. If you want a tutorial on how I make piping trim, go here!

I attached the piping, then hand stitched down all the seams on the inside. Then I put the eyelets/grommets in the center back and added some cord to lace it.

Presto! Another corset! ;D

Steampunk Corset

Salutations! This is the first steampunk outfit I've put together in quite some time. (The last one was my steampunk inspired lolita oufit back in 2011!) I am a steampunk fan, so it would probably come as no surprise that everything in this outfit excluding the corset came straight out of my own closet.  Hahaha

This was my final project for corsetry and the second corset I've ever made! This is also the first time a draped a pattern. I debuted this outfit at CostumeCon 32 and won a Hall Award for the ensemble. Planning on decking this out with more stuff in the future--like a weapon or possibly some gloves. But for now it's complete. 

Special thanks to Mike at EleventhPhotograph for the photoshoot! I have a few more pics up on my Cospix profile!

It is a decorative corset intended to be fairly tight-laced (at least for me!) I am particularly proud of how the back of this piece turned out. In terms of comfort, it's actually fairly comfortable when standing, but when sitting the neckpiece doesn't allow me to lean back. This makes it a bit tiring to wear for long periods of time.

I had a hell of a time figuring out my colour scheme (as I almost exclusively design in pencil, without colour), but I am glad for the colours I eventually chose. Special thanks to the lovely gal at King Textiles who helped me pick out my fabrics! I like the contrast with the muted gold and the pale orange versus the brown suede. Mostly I really like fabric with texture. The dupioni (gold) and the raw silk (orange) have such great texture! Someone commented that the raw silk looks almost like woodgrain.

Here is my original concept sketch. I started my design process by sifting through the hundreds of google images of steampunk, corsets, and victorian fashion. I picked out the different elements I liked and came up with this. It is designed to be worn with or without the neck piece. In the original concept I had vertical buckles attaching the two at the back, but scrapped that during the build process, as I found them to be completely unnecessary; it would make it harder to get on and off by myself, and would clutter the design. I might add the chain detail at the front eventually, but I kind of like it without it.

To start I adjusted my dress form (which I refer to as Molly) and padded out the hips to be higher. This is to accommodate my shorter torso. The goal here was to make as accurate a representation as possible of my body. Then I used 1/4" twill tape to mark out the shapes I wanted on the body. These tapes marked the seam lines and the garment edges. When doing this it is important to decide which edge of the tape is the "line" and then stick with that. Be consistent, or you will confuse yourself.
Then using muslin I draped the design. Each section/piece is a different piece of fabric carefully smoothed to contour the body and pinned in place to the edges of the section. Then I took a ballpoint pen and traced the seam lines/edges onto each piece. I also marked the waistline. Additionally, when draping a corset it is best to keep the grain of the fabric perpendicular to the waist line, meaning the grain should run straight up and down the body. (Woven fabric stretches on bias/45 degree and can alter the shapes enough to be a problem later in the process.)

I unpinned the pieces from Molly and cut them out following the outline I had drawn. The two patterns were as follows: The neckpiece pictured above, and the corset pictured on the left. The corset has 6 panels on each side.

I then made a quick mockup to ensure the fit was correct. The neck piece needed some minor adjustments because my neck is thinner than Molly's. An average corset is designed to have a 2" gap at the back, so that when laced it cinches in the body. This obviously doesn't work on the mannequin, so after draping the pattern you then calculate and carve off the proportional amount from each panel. (This was not done to the neck piece because cinching in the neck would cause strangulation.) I made my corset just a fraction narrower at the waist, shaving off the same amount from each panel. This would bring the waist in tighter when tight-laced, giving the waist more definition. After doing this you may have to readjust the seams a little bit so the sides are the same length.

I used the leftover black coutil from my Black Corset, Beetle Green Trim to be the inner 2 layers of my corset (making this corset have 3 layers total). The silks I used as my outer "fashion layer" would be too thin to hold the bones without eventually fraying, also would not stand up to tight-lacing very well. I needed 4 of each of the 6 pattern pieces to make my inner layers. For the neckpiece I did the double inner layers in black twill instead, this would be less constricting and allow more motion (as twill is much less stiff that coutil), while still maintaining the desired structural stability.

I gave myself 1" seam allowance at the top and bottom of each piece, and 1/2" at the side seams.

I then cut out the pieces in the appropriate colours of silk. The center front and center back were done in the orange, while the rest was done in gold.

When it came to the neckpiece I did my best to just ensure the grainline was perpendicular to the neck. This meant I got some interesting diagonals on the shoulder/back.

I did my corset supply order from Farthingales to get my various findings. This included my busk, grommets and bones. I also got some d-rings that I didn't end up using... I made sure all my exposed metal pieces would have a matching colour. In this case that meant that all of them were an antique bronze colour. I think this complimented my fabric choices much better than a silver would.

For this corset I used 2 enamel bones for the center back and spiral bones for the rest. Overall there was 10+ meters of boning. The enamel bones don't bend sideways, which is why they are used in the center back, this keeps the lacing more straight/aligned than spirals which are bendy in all directions.

Next I added in the busk to the center panel. You can find out how I did that by reading my Busk Closure Tutorial. Don't worry, you can come back to this. Hahaha
I basted all the layers for each panel together, following my seam lines, and serged the edges (excluding the center back, which was bagged out, pressed and top stitched first). This would prevent fraying while I worked as well as keep the layers from shifting. Then I prepped all the bone casings. For the internal bones (the ones next to each side seam) I drew out my lines carefully on the fabric and then machine stitched them. For the external suede cases I cut and measured the strips, then top stitched them on with the raw edges folded under.

I sewed the side seams on every piece except the center front and back. I made sure to carefully line up my basting stitches and edges and waistline. I didn't want to overshoot into my bone casings anywhere. The most important thing here is patience and accuracy. It will make for a cleanly finished corset.

Next I top stitched the suede strip that would mask the colour transition (orange to gold) on the center front and center back panels. This was to make the transition look less jarring. On the neckpiece this suede strip was sewn into the seam, because the layers were thin enough. On the corset though, this would be impossible because the 4 layers of coutil, plus 2 layers of silk AND a suede layer would be too much for just about any sewing machine. So instead I left it flapping while I sewed each of those seams, then I carefully folded it over and top stitched it in the ditch so the machine wouldn't have to go through the seam allowance also. To say this was challenging is an understatement. Haha

Once the pieces were all together it was time to prep and insert the bones. This process actually took quite some time. It is easiest to cut, tip and insert each bone before moving on to the next, otherwise you are likely to get them mixed up. As a general rule you should cut the bones to be 3/4" shorter than the finished case, this allows a little more room for them to bend so they wont bust out of the casings when you try to sit. (Trust me, sitting is by no means overrated!)

In terms of cutting spiral bones, I highly recommend investing in a pair of aircraft cable cutters, which you can pick up at most hardware stores (though the salespeople are likely to be confused as to your intended use of that tool...). They are the best thing to cut through the bones, normal wire cutters just don't work very well (it can be done, it's just a lot of effort). They cost around 20$ though, so if you are planning on making multiple corsets it's a good investment, if not you may want to look into pre-cut bones (which are more expensive than buying a roll of boning). Figure out what works best for your budget/your project!

Now my corset was all pieced together (pictured left I still needed to top stitch the bone casing edge on the CF panels). Below you can see what it looked like after I top stitched it. You can see how it masks the colour transition perfectly!

At this time I also pressed the inner seams open & flat, then cross stitched them down, this reduces bulk on the inside and makes it more comfortable to wear (because the seams wont get folded over weirdly when you put it on and be uncomfortable).

Next was trimming and grommets. The suede trim on the corset was much easier than that on the neckpiece, as the curves were less extreme. Suede has a lot of stretch to it, but it is not nearly as kind as bias tape in that respect. So there are some places under the edge where I had to fold/gather the trim to get it to work. But it looks great on the outside! So that's all that really matters. I tucked the ends under and hand stitched them down.

The grommets I put in using the grommet press I have access to at school. It makes it much easier I had a record breaking zero failed grommets! (Not planning on buying my own press though for reasons of expense.)

The last thing I added (besides the laces) was a buckle under the left arm. Again I picked a buckle with metal that matched the colour of my busk and grommets.

I'm sure I will be wearing this to many more events!

Busk Closure Tutorial

Today I will talk about how to put a busk into a corset. A busk is a really strong hook and post closure that is frequently used in corset making as it provides a secure closure and holds up really well under tension.

The example I am using is from my original Steampunk Corset, that will be posted sometime later in April. (For now you can follow my progress on Facebook!)

Putting in a busk is not extremely difficult, so much as it just requires a lot of patience and accuracy. Half the battle is purchasing a good quality busk that aligns properly. I got mine from Farthingales and it is really nice. They come in different colours too. The one I have has antique bronze coloured hooks and posts.

Each busk piece is inserted/sandwiched between 2 pieces of fabric; this keeps it nice and secure. So essentially you have 2 pieces of fabric for each side of the busk. If you have a fancy fabric for the outside there will be 3 layers of fabric on each side. It is important that if your fancy fabric is thin that you have a strong fabric underneath to protect it from the busk wearing through.

Firstly you line up the center front seam right sides together. (If you have a fancy fabric layer--called a fashion layer--for the outside, that will be sandwiched in the middle.) The hook piece should go in the left-hand side of the closure if you were to look at someone wearing a corset. Spacing the busk evenly between the top and bottom seam lines, mark where the openings need to go for the hooks. Make sure to be extremely accurate when marking for the openings!

Then you stitch along the center front seam, backstitch every time you get to a marked opening, then lift the machine foot and continue on the other side of each marked opening, ensuring to backstitch again when you start. Make sure not to stitch past your opening marking pins, otherwise the opening will be too small to fit the hooks. On the other hand, try not to stop short, or they will be too big and sloppy. There is no need to cut the threads each time you stop and start, you can do that at the end (but it isn't really necessary).

When you are done stitching, try fitting the hooks through the holes to double check that it fits.

Flip the fabric right way out and iron the piece flat. (You can actually get it to turn right way out cleaner if you press the seam flat open first then fold it over.)


Again use pins to mark your openings and topstitch 1/8" in along the edge. Like before backstitch at each pin and be careful to not overshoot your pins.

Then slip the hook piece of the busk through the hole as far as possible. Using a zipper foot on the sewing machine stitch around the busk to hold it firmly in place, snugging the needle up beside the busk and continuing to push it as far through the holes as possible. Make sure to stitch around the top and bottom ends.

Next you prep the opposite panel for the post side of the busk. Sew the pieces right sides together on the center front seam. (Like with the first side if you have a fancy fabric it should be sandwiched in the middle of the two fabrics so it will be on the outside when you flip them.) Again flip it to the right side and press it. Then topstitch 1/8" in from the edge.

Line up the left side and the right side of the center front panels. Mark with pins where the top and bottom of the busk should go on the right panel so it will properly align with the left one (which should have the hooks in it already). Carefully mark where the holes will go for the posts. Keep in mind when you mark the holes you want to have the busk piece as snug to the stitch line as possible without the fabric pulling oddly around the posts.

Using an awl carefully poke each hole and the slip the post through. These holes should not be going through all the layers, only the through the fashion layer (if you have one) and the top layer. It may take a couple tries to get the post through as these holes tend to close quickly. Use the awl again to loosen it if need be.

Once you have all the posts through then use the zipper foot and stitch around the busk the same as the first side.

And then you have a lovely busk closure! Very sleek, very strong. ;D