This tutorial has been kindly written for Sew Curvy by Maria of Kitty O'Hara Corsetry.  Thank you Maria!

How to Make Your Own Coloured Corset Laces

Firstly, order your length of laces from Sew Curvy!  They are 100% cotton and so accept dye readily.  Synthetic laces will not dye so easily.

Use a hand dye rather than a machine dye in order to penetrate the laces properly.  Dylon hand dye colours are very close to the colour on the outside of the packet.  

The packet states that the 50g bag will do 250g of dry fabric, but because the laces are relatively small and weigh so little  a bit of maths is required to figure out the right amount.  Four metres of lacing  weighs approximately 10g so for every 4m length of laces you want to dye you will need to reduce the amounts of the other ingredients by the amounts shown below.  Or if you’ve just got a big bundle of lace and want to dye the whole lot just weight it and work out the amounts from there.

For 4m of laces you will need:
2g dye
20ml water
240ml water
10g salt

Double this for 8m of lace, triple for 12m, etc.

Now it’s pretty easy, you can just follow the instructions on the packet, which are:

• Wash laces thoroughly and leave damp.
• Dissolve 2g of dye into 20ml warm water.
• Fill bowl with 240ml warm water, add 10g salt.  Add the dye mixture and stir well.
• Submerge fabric in water.
• Stir fabric constantly for 15 mins then regularly for 45 mins.
• Rinse in cold water, then wash in warm water and dry away from direct heat and sunlight.

Hints & Tips:

Because corset lacing is a flat tube of woven fabric, you have to make absolutely sure that the dye penetrates right through all surfaces of the laces otherwise they may come out patchy and tie dyed.  To make sure that the dye gets right through them, wash the laces first in water, and then wring them under the water until all the air bubbles have come out.  Do the same when they are submerged in the dye.  This way you can be absolutely sure that all the water/dye has completely penetrated the inside of the laces as well as the outside.  Wear rubber gloves to protect your hands from the dye.

The laces will naturally tangle up around themselves so do make sure you loosen any actual knots, otherwise you will end up with tie dye laces!

When your laces dry they will probably be a bit crinkly and need ironing.  A really quick and easy way of ironing them is to run them through some hair straighteners.

Et Voila! You have custom coloured corset laces!

Alison Barlow has kindly supplied the table below which takes the guess work out of how much dye/water/salt you need for the amount of fabric/laces you are dying.  Click on it for a downloadable PDF.

Here is a little table which will help you determine which flat metal boning is most suitable to use in your  corsetry and dress making project.

This type of corset boning is known by many names including spring steel, flat steel, flat boning, flat sprung steel, and simply flats. 

The Wonders of Knicker Elastic! by  Rosie Dennington of Rosie Red Corsetry and Couture

 In all honesty, elastic used to frighten me. I had previously played about before with making smocked dresses and elasticated summer tops, but it was always very trial and error. I really wanted to master knickers and swimwear, but just wasn’t very sure of where to start…

I have now come out the other end! I feel I have managed to master the use of knicker elastic, and I want to share with you three different things knicker elastic can be used for.

1.  Knicker elastic can be made to make knickers or panties! 

Knicker elastic is most commonly used around the waist and legs of a pair of knickers. I found it most useful to study pairs of pants that I owned and to look at where the elastic had been used. This is because styles will vary. For this explanation though, presume I am talking about your bog-standard panties. So, how much elastic is needed? This baffled me until a lecturer I had at university explained to me that the simplest way to work this out was to literally get a length of elastic and hold it around that body part (waist or leg) until it felt at a ‘comfortable tightness’. This can then obviously be used as a rough guide for future sizing; if you wear a size 12 you are likely to be able to make all your size 12 knickers with these measurements. I have included photos to demonstrate this

Too tight - this is going to hurt!	Too loose - not tension at all!	Just right, comfy and stays in place

The next obstacle is now that you have your lengths of elastic cut, how much ‘pull’ is needed when you sew?  The first time I made a pair of knickers, they would have only fitted a doll, as I had pulled far too much. Take the waist for example, fold the elastic in quarters, this will give you markers for the side seams and CF and CB. These can either be pinned in place, or markers can be drawn onto the fabric. Again, I have included photos to demonstrate this. Finally, it is important to mention the stitch to use. A three step zig-zag stitch works best but if you do not have a three step zig zag on your machine, a plain zigzag is the next best thing.  The zigzag stitch allows the fabric to stretch with the elastic; it just isn’t possible with a straight stitch. The width and length of the stitch I have found, is purely a matter of choice. I often like to use a chunky zig-zag stitch in a contrast colour, as it works as a bit of a decorative feature.

Tip:  Fold both knickers and elastic in half or quarters to make your own markers. This can then be pinned in place so you know how much ‘pull’ is needed
		Most domestic machines have a three step zigzag

  2. Knicker elastic can be used to shape garments

Knicker elastic can be used to shape soft cups in nightdresses and sundresses.  A big positive to this is that it really works for any size chest.  You may find it easiest to either flat pattern a cup, or to cut on the stand. When I say ‘cup’ it can be as simplistic as a triangle shape, commonly associated with bikinis. Work out the length of elastic you will require, and in a similar way to making the knickers, use a zig-zag stitch to attach. If you use this same principle and use swimwear fabric, you can even make your own soft cup bikinis.  This is particularly good when making bikinis and first bras for girls starting out with lingerie.

soft cup bikini shaped with elastic trim	sexy negligee with bust area shaped with elastic

3. Embellishment and decoration

This is a bit more of an ‘out-of-the-box’ idea, but I have found that knicker elastic can be used as really lovely decoration. The real advantage of using knicker elastic is that it moves and stretches at your will so easily. I have used it many times to decorate nipple tassels and pasties. Knicker elastic is much easier to manipulate then a standard lace trim, so can be particularly effective for unusual shapes such as hearts. It can be sewn, hot glued or super glued in place.  I find it particularly effective for unusual shapes such as hearts. It can be sewn, hot glued or super glued in place.

I really hope that this has been of help in showing just some of the ways knicker elastic can be used. Not only is it useful and often pretty, but it doesn’t break the bank either!

Make your own knickers - free tutorial from the Very Purple Person blog

Three free printable lingerie patterns from Craftsy

This is an oldie - extract from it what you will

It is good practice to trace your sewing pattern so that you have a 'master' for future reference.   Alterations can be made using the copy.

Note:  It is not recommended that you use a strong colour to mark pale fabrics.  I have used red here for clarity

For this example I have used a few tools:

1.  Tracing paper (greaseproof paper is perfect, but not baking parchment which is coated in silicone) and a pencil.

2.  Dressmakers carbon paper (see note above)

3.  A tracing wheel

The tracing wheel should be the 'blunt' type, not the sharp type.

Both dressmakers carbon and tracing wheels are available in the Shop

	Use tracing paper and a pen to trace each piece of the pattern including ALL construction marks.  Do not worry too much about grommet hole markings at this stage.   Do make sure all the grain lines are marked.
	Once your pattern is traced, you can use the copy to cut your fabrics out.   Make sure that the fabric is properly grained up as if the grain of fabric isn't right, the corset may end up twisting which will cause it to feel uncomfortable when you are wearing it. Also make sure that the fabric is laid out Right sides TOGETHER.  You will be marking the fabric directly onto the wrong side of the fabric.  Before taking the pattern off the fabric, you will need to transfer the relevant markings and balance points.
	Using dressmakers carbon, create a 'sandwich'.  It is useful to use 2 different colours to mark the top and bottom layers as this will eliminate any confusion over which side is which later on.   Making sure you don't unpin the whole ensemble - ie, keeping the layers in the exact position in which they were cut, layer one piece of carbon underneath the pattern and ontop of the first layer of fabric, and one piece of carbon underneath the bottom layer of fabric.
	Now firmly, so that the imprint goes right to the bottom, run the tracing wheel over the markings on the top paper.   Mark bone channels and balance points and any other relevant stitching lines or marks. Before removing the paper, check the bottom layer to make sure that everything is marked up. You should now have a left set of pieces and a right side of pieces.  In the seam allowance, label each piece of each side in the seam allowance ie: centre front/side front/side back/centre back etc.,

The Royal Worcester Corset Company, which wasn't, as you may suppose in Worcester England, but in Worcester, Massachusets, USA was started by David Fanning around 1875 and flourished until his death in the late 1950's.  David Fanning was the  first  corset manufacturer to discover that women's bodies required different sizes to cope with tall, medium and small frames.  Thus, the factory produced corsets for the individual, at prices for the masses.

Many fabrics were used in the manufacture of corsets at RWCC, principally coutil, a firmly woven fabric, the finest of which was made in France.  Sateen and jean from America was also used, as well as silk, satin and batistes from Italy and  nettings for summer corsets.  In all cases whatever colour the outer fabric was, a white lining was required as women preferred the clean effect of this next to their body.

The order began it's journey in the order office, where it was given a style number.  This number was attached to each piece of corset as it was processed and kept in place until the finished item was boxed.

The pattern for the appropriate corset was selected from the many on the pattern rack, laid out on the correct grain of fabric and cut by the  most experienced of cutters to ensure economy and best fit.  The peices of the corset were then tied together in bundles and sent to the main stitching room where the seaming, basting, making up of fronts and backs and 'stripping' was done.  Stripping was the process of attaching bone casings.   From here, the corset was sent to the boning department where the bones were inserted by hand - bones were selected according to the type of corset, stout bird feathers being preferred by the wealthy ladies, steel bones for cheaper corsets - they were prone to rust in those days! Rattan or cane was used to bone the very cheapest corsets.  From the boning room, the corset went to the trimming room where it was put through a shaping machine, unevenness at the top and bottom was trimmed off and the top and bottom edges were bound. Eyelets were then added, along with some flossing which not only added to the beauty of the corset, but prevented the bones from working their way up or down their casings or wearing through to the front.  The final stage of factory corset manufacture was the finishing whereby the corset would be sprayed on the inside with  a solution of cold water starch and then tied to a 'copper maiden' through which live steam was passed, thereby pressing the final corset into shape and eliminating wrinkles.  The corset was then rolled and boxed ready for shipment.

 

Book Review:  Vintage Lingerie, Historical Patterns & Techniques by Jill Salen

Beautiful, fine silk lingerie items are one of those things which we consider to be the sort of luxury we would rarely - if ever - buy for ourselves due to the sometimes eye wateringly expensive price.  As sewists, we can often look at garments in shops and say “i can make that” (for a fraction of the cost), and so we can too with lingerie - even the type you see in high end shops such as Agent Provocateur and Coco de Mer.  Finding commercial lingerie patterns in the styles and shapes of yesteryear however, is difficult if not impossible  but Jill Salen, a professional costumer of some renown and with a special interest in historical underwear,  has come to the rescue!  

This book contains no less than 30 well chosen, historically accurate patterns taken from museum collections.  From the 1850’s to the 1970‘s some items could even be customised as outer wear for today, and some, though vintage, have as classic as shape yesterday as they do today.  All are thoroughly inspirational and beautiful.

Each item in the book has 3 or 4 pages dedicated to it - at least one full page colour photograph alongside a description including relevant dates, fabrics used, measurements, embellishments, and historical notes.  The pattern then follows, scaled down on squared graph paper which is easy to scale up to the size of the original garment.  These scale drawings include the pattern pieces with balance marks and also fine embellishment details and diagrams for things which may be hard to follow from just the photograph - ie: different types of stitching, closures, edgings, facings and attachments.

This book is not aimed at beginners.  It is assumed that people accessing these patterns, are used to sewing garments together, fairly confident at using scale patterns and comfortable with working intuitively from brief instructions to make something fit a modern body - though it is recommended by the author to first to make a garment to scale and find somebody to fit the garment so that they way it works can be observed as it would have been intended.  A basic knowledge of pattern cutting would be useful though not essential.

That said, for the less confident, there are 2 full projects included in the book.  which give a list of materials required, plus detailed step by step instructions on how to make each item  - a black net brassier from 1930 which looks remarkably modern and risque, and a very cleverly patterned 1905 petticoat designed to give maximum ‘swish’ and embellished with pretty ribbon and layers of lace.

There are notes in the back of the book which include brief instructions on how the scaled patterns are used followed by more detailed notes on various hand sewing techniques commonly used in vintage lingerie, such as making button loops, scallop edging, attaching hooks and eyes, fagotting and making broderie anglaise details, to name but a few.

In summary,  this is another excellent and inspirational book by Jill Salen (her first was dedicated entirely to corsetry).  Along with the individual patterns and beautiful pictures, there is a wealth of information on how and where different fabrics and other materials were used in lingerie, and all of this knowledge can be applied to different projects whether for underwear, corsetry or dressmaking, and ofcourse there is also a list of suppliers, extensive further reading, list of useful website resources and a very handy glossary.

copyright, Sew Curvy Corsetry, originally published at The Sewing Directory