I said this in 2014, and I'll say it again - read more to understand the context of why I said it and why I stand by the statement that plastic boning corrupts over time and simply does not stand up to the job. photo copyright : Julia Bremble, please do not use without permission

I've talked about steel boning at length all over this website, and will soon write a blog post on plastic boning for your interest and information.  As ever, I present no pre-conceived conclusions and encourage experimentation at every step of your sewing journeys which is why it's no secret that I do not agree with the statement "plastic boning is better than steel". It isn't better and it isn't worse, it's different.  I stock various types of plastic boning and lots of different types of steel boning because each type is useful and apart from anything else, it isn't in my interests to persuade you one way or another.  In my quest to be a good shopkeeper and educator,  I personally test everything on my shelves and I do extensive research not only because I want to pass the information on so that customers can make an informed choice, but because this is my passion too. My overriding aim is and always has been that YOU choose what is best for your practice, and you make your choices after research, experimentation, experience.  It's your call, I can only give you information, inspiration and my own opinion based upon what I have found to work best for me.  

Dior dress foundation photographed by veteran corset maker Alison Campbell of Crikey Aphrodite who was commissioned by a collector of vintage couture to examine and reproduce an authentic Dior style dress foundation. It was during this project that we sourced cotton bobbinet for Sew Curvy which exactly matched the material in this original Dior garment.  Photo copyright: Alison Campbell - please do not use without permission

So lets talk about dress foundations.  

When I wrote this article,  dated March 2014 it was a long time before the current popularity of the plastic material known as 'synthetic whalebone' and I was referring to the more commonly available Rigilene, the plastic boning of choice for many a dressmaker over many a decade, a product which at that time sold in much more quantity than synthetic whalebone (or 'whale' as we call it at Sew Curvy HQ).  It still sells by the heap and because not all of my customers are corset makers, attracts queries on an almost daily basis, the most common of which is 'what's best for boning this wedding/prom dress i'm making, rigeline or spiral steel?.  I always reply that, in my opinion, steel is best but sometimes I will recommend the synthetic whalebone as a suitable alternative to steel - it depends on the purpose and desired outcome.  

an order for sample boning received yesterday - someone's experimenting!

Rigilene has its uses but is no good for serious dress foundations because it wont stand up to the job.  Lets look at why that is and why infact,  steel boning is the boning of choice for couturiers.

Here is a Dior dress foundation photographed by me during the V&A Ballgowns exhibition a few years ago.

Foundation of a gown from the V&A Ballgowns Exhibition a number of years ago -  you can clearly see that it is lightly boned with narrow spiral steel because the grey of the steel is showing through the pale foundation fabric which is made from a few layers of tightly woven cotton bobbinet.

Here is another example of a dress foundation boned with spiral steel, and I am particularly interested in this one because it has toile panniers which I have been fascinated about ever since hearing about them from my showgirl friend and vintage couture conniseur, Immodesty Blaize who found them in the vintage wedding dress she wore to her civil wedding ceremony  in France.  This dress foundation also uses steel boning, again clearly visible by the grey colour under the net bodice, and there is a very good reason for this. 

This dress foundation has multi layered tulle petticoats and toile panniers to support and give structure to the heavy satin dress which will go over the top of it.	source

As you can see from this particular example, this dress foundation is doing alot of work - As a whole it is transforming the body by smoothing the torso with the corsolette and creating the illusion of larger hips with the petticoats and panniers.  The bodice is not only smoothing the wearers body, it is also supporting those petticoats and panniers and the whole thing will then support the heavy satin dress that goes over the top of it.  Dress foundations therefore serve two purposes. 

1. They smooth and shape the torso ensuring a smooth foundation for the wearer.
2. They support the garment itself, improving shape, structure and comfort.  The garment, as well as the body of the wearer is supported. 

Boning is used because without it, the foundation would collapse and would not support the weight of either the petticoats or the over garment.  Steel boning is usually used but in some cases, sturdy plastic boning such as synthetic whalebone could  also be used.  Rigline boning cannot stand up to the job because it is far too thin and flexible.

The boning of choice for couture houses from the golden age, right up to the present day (and I supply many of them with steel boning, never plastic), is steel.  Why?  Steel boning is more widely available than decent plastic boning and it is much more flexible for curvy areas such as over the bust.  Also, steel does not degrade in the same way that plastic does over time, and what I mean by this is that spiral steel retains it's original properties for a very long time, plastic does not.  So although we all know that once plastic is made, it can never be 'unmade', the properties which made it useful when new, will degrade over a relatively short period of time.  Therefore, apart from the other environmental considerations, plastic boning will not produce an heirloom garment. 

This dior foundation is light and 'fluffy' and boned with 5mm spiral steel. You could probably use synthetic whalebone 6 x 1.5mm but would it last 100 years on a body? â’¸ Alison Campbell

What about the argument that plastic is lighter, and that metal can rust?  Both of those statements are of course true, however, in a couture foundation, 5mm spiral steel boning is commonly used in combination with fine cotton bobbinet which is strong yet very light.  In other words, a dress foundation, although it performs light corsetting duties, is not heavy but it does need to be strong and durable.  The steel will never rust if the garment is looked after properly and also because it is galvanised to protect against rusting and because of it's structure (two flattened springs squashed together) it's properties will not change over time.  It is possible to use plastic whalebone for the same purpose and with the same effect but the integrity of the material over time is not so guaranteed and of course where steel could rust if not looked after, plastic can warp if not looked after.  The pros and cons are almost equal so again, we come back to choice when it comes to your own work.

no boning caps - don't faint! â’¸ Alison Campbell

Having personally examined a number of couture dress foundations, and having had clients with collections of vintage couture, and friends who have not only studied fashion but have also studied couture garments for particular reasons and having customers from famous couture houses and production companies who order steel boning by the roll,  I can quite categorically state without a shadow of a doubt, that spiral steel boning is more common in couture dress foundations than plastic boning because more often than not, it is the best thing for that particular job.  

So I am standing by my statement with the following caveat perfectly captured by Robert Dyer in his seminal book "Wasited Efforts' which includes a whole chapter on couture dress foundations that he has studied from the House of Dior who routinely use 5mm spiral steel boning and cotton bobbinet:

"Interestingly, as scholars research and analyze the techniques of master coutiriers, it is often forgotten that the couturier is a master because they abide by no rules but are so confident with the art of sewing and cutting, that decisions are made depending on need not formula.  Sewing after all is simply a series of seams, some straight, some curved.  The crucial part is that the stitcher must become profient at doing them"

And so it is with this exquisite dress by Yves St Laurant for Dior which was created in 1958.

source

The materials listed are silk, metallic thread, glass and plastic.  We can assume that this 'plastic' refers either to the bead and sequin embellishment or the boning used for the bodice that supports a very etheareal and airy, sheer dress which is supposed to look like it is swinging off the body.

"Creating the trapeze silhouette for Dior, Saint Laurent has a rigid understructure veiled under a fly-away cage. A boned corset anchors the dress but allows the delusion of a free swinging cone"  

Without examining the finer details of this garment in person, we can only imagine that if the creator preferred to use plastic boning here, he did so because it was important for the final effect;  I would say that in order to preserve the light qualities of the garment, boning channels designed to hide grey metal boning would have been deemed to 'heavy' whereas plastic boning, being white, would give a more effortlessly etheareal result. 

"Thus, in both surface decoration and in structure, Saint Laurent gained the effect of ethereal, bouyant freedom while retaining the structure of the couture. From the earliest works at the house of Dior through the designer's accomplishments in his own house, Saint Laurent has practiced and perfected this modernist wielding of couture construction and proficiency to seem wholly unfettered"

So here we have a shining example of where, contrary to traditional streams of thought,  the designer may have felt that plastic boning was best for this garment and used it instead of metal boning.  The effect is sublime and as ever proves the point that we should use the things that work best for us and for the project in hand.

In summary

• Not all plastic boning is created equal 
• Rigilene boning is too thin and flimsy to support a functional dress foundation and it will not stand up to the job
• It's a scientifically proven fact that plastic will degrade over time, faster than steel.
• Some sturdier types of plastic boning can take the place of steel in a dress foundation and do the same job with the same effect.
• The best type of plastic boning for dress foundations at the current time, is 1mm-1.5mm thick synthetic whalebone.  The thinner types also will not stand up to the job.
• Metal boning is undisputedly the go-to choice for couture houses to use in their dress foundations.

As ever, context is important.  Where plastic can be used, use it if you want to.  Where metal is more suitable, use it if you want to.  

There are no rules.

The next article will be all about the pros and cons of plastic boning.

Links for further info:

A whole page of 'pins' concerning dress foundations old and new

A Threads article where Susan Kalje uses steel boning as support in garments in surprising ways (probably some of which I would use plastic boning for)

A blog post where a home sewer makes her own wedding dress with a really good technique on how to make really lovely sheer bone casings

Anatomy of a modern gown with a bobbinet dress foundation by Morua Corsetry and Couture

A few blog posts on How to make a dress foundation in several projects by me - including a post where I use rigilene boning in partnership with steel boning to make a moulded bust curve - a technique which I still use in some of my corsetry projects today.  This link also includes more details on the John Cavanah dress which is pictured at the top of this blog post and dates back to a road trip to the Symington archive that I made with friends around 5 years ago.

As you may know, I only stock products at Sew Curvy that I myself would use - and therefore I like to use them too.  I sometimes have so much inspiration that it's hard to focus on one idea at a time - such is the creative mind, and I imagine that if you are reading this, you are like that aswell!  So, for selfish reasons, not least because i've discovered that making things for fun is good for my stress levels, I've decided to indulge myself a bit and make some inspirational blog posts using materials from the shop.

Being a shopkeeper I have to stock practical things as well as pretty things, and sometimes certain colours can seem a bit 'hmm' until you've played about with the possiblities; our Sand herringbone coutil is one of those 'hmm' items and probably one of the most difficult colours to pair up so that's where i've started! 

The sand coloured herringbone coutil on it's own isn't exactly inspirational - It's an odd colour truth be told - made for the medical market to replace what is now the vintage staple corsetry colour "tea rose" which is that salmony pink shade so common in corsets and girdles from the 1940's right up to the 70's, and which was the go to 'nude' of old.  Well this 'sand' colour (also once known as 'nude' and in Europe known as 'skin') is the replacement.  For medical corsetry, this colour was thought to be more compatible with a more multi-racial range of skin colours. 

I call it 'sand' because it isn't like any skin colour i've ever seen, unless you count American Tan, but it is like a rich honey shaded builders sand.  It goes beautifully with ivory and also black as a base 'skin' tone type colour - it can melt away underneath a sheer underlay, and under ivory, becomes a very pretty bridal option. 

In my first project,  i've teamed it up with our floral lingerie net, and two of our pretty guipure trims, along with a white busk and a cute little bra bow from the bra making range.  I like to mix and match shop supplies so that they are good for multiple uses and when I started stocking bra making supplies, I visited the warehouse to ensure that I could pick products that could be used for both bra making and corset making in a number of different ways.

The most exciting thing I have to tell you about this project is that there is NO ROLL PINNING !!  Why?  Because the lace fabric has a slight stretch to it, so if you incorporated turn of cloth as you would a normal non-stretch fabric, you might get a bit of unsightly bagging.  Fabric with a slight stretch can cope very well with turn of cloth so no pesky fiddling about with those seam allowances and no tedious pad stitching as some people do. 

Simply cut out both layers of your corset pattern at the same time, and stitch the coutil and lace together within the seam allowance.  Easy peasy and an excellent place for beginners to start with multi-layer corsetry!

I can't bear waste (ha!), and in my classes I teach what I call "fabric economy".  With this in mind I can literally use almost every single scrap of coutil from half a metre or a metre - whatever i'm using to cut the pattern.  Because 12mm bias strips, which I use for boning channels, are only 2.5cm wide before being processed, you can get alot out of the surplus material around the corset pattern and  when you're paying anywhere between £10-30 for a metre of fabric it pays to be thrifty let me tell you - especially with the more expensive coutils such as the rosebud coutil.

In this picture you can see that i've used self made boning channels from 2.5cm wide coutil strips, and I've used 15mm satin ribbon stitched into the binding as detachable suspender loops. 

Using matching coutil for your boning channels gives a single layer corset a very tidy interior negating the need for a separate lining and therefore making sure you end up with a light yet strong and durable corset.

I use the Prym bias binding maker for making the bone casings because it has a wide gap in the 'nose' - other bias makers can't take the thicker coutils, and I find that this little maker works very very well.  You cut your strip of coutil on the bias OR on the straight grain - it doesn't matter as long as you use a bias strip over particularly curvy bits.  Then you feed your strip through the little thingy, pin the end of the tape to the ironing board, and pull the contraption along your strip until you have a double folded peice. 

I'll be making a video on this as soon as it stops raining!

The bias strips are then used as boning channels and everything is stitched down with my 'wonder thread' - Guterman no 722 - it is literally invisible on a very wide range of fabrics!  Jenni Hampshire of Sparklewren fame discovered this and I've also been a devotee of the colour ever since... It literally disappears into any neutral coloured fabric including a number of the coutil we have at Sew Curvy:   Mink, Sand, Biscuit, ivory/gold rosebud, nude/silver rosebud, dessert orchid brocade, biscuit spot broche and small weave herringbone.  Amazing!

The corset fabrics are all set off rather nicely with a white busk and a little cream bra bow.  Unfortunately, our black and white busks are currently on limited stock as my coloured busk project is on hold - basically the original factory mucked it alot of things up and i've been talking to another local place who have yet to provide samples for me.

Here are some other palette ideas for the sand herringbone - black spot net, with black 'little crowns' guipure and either a Victorian style guipure with our 'latte' satin ribbon woven into it (good for lacing too) or the black tulle 'scrolls' trim.  Both look pretty and all of these options will go with our suspender elastics very well.

SO! if you want to have a go - you can do this with any corset pattern at all, and these are the ingredients I used to make this cute little nude underbust.  All she needs now is a name - I think "Daisy" seems quite apt.

• Sophia Corset pattern 
• Herringbone coutil in sand - an economical choice, this is our cheapest coutil.
• Ivory lingerie net - usually used for bra making but very pretty in corsets
• White busk - subject to availability
• Guterman Sew all thread 722 - magic thread, invisible with most neutral type colours
• Loose eyelets - used without washers - I'll tell you about that another time
• 10mm and 15mm double satin ribbon in Ivory (419)
• Daisy guipure trim
• Little crowns guipure trim
• Spiral and flat steel boning
• Underbusk - our underbusks are extremely sturdy, 20mm wide, 0.80mm thick and as used by Dark Garden Corsetry and Mr Pearl who has tested them personally
• 16mm cotton bias binding in sand - i've used the sand colour narrow bias, it's a bit tricky to apply but gives a lovely neat finish
• Prym bias maker 12mm - not the cheapest bias maker on the market, but certainly the best.

Estimated material cost for a 22" corset approx £40 (excluding tools) if you had to buy everything - but see what's in your stash and have a play! It's good for the soul.

We've started the new year off with a bit of a bang!  The most important and exciting news is that we will soon be branching into BRA MAKING SUPPLIES!  Watch this space for more news.  I've been to the wholesalers, I've selected all the things, i'm now waiting on pricing info and stock.  Here's a picture of all the samples bundled on to my work table to whet your appetite!

DESIGNER TIP! Bees wax conditions and smooths thread.  Simply run your thread through a block of beeswax, iron the thread, and use.  No it doesn't make your work greasy, but it does make your thread super smooth and super strong!     New! Pure 100% Paraffin wax is offered now as a vegan alternative and is on site now!

Due to popular demand, I've added a new beginners corsetry class to the schedule in MARCH.  Three places have gone, and three are still available!  These go very quickly so do hurry and book if you want to learn corsetry this year.  The next available beginners class will not take place until much later in the year.

BUSK REVOLUTION!

In addition to bra and lingerie making supplies, we have powder coated coloured busks coming which will match and tone with the coutil fabric we stock.

But i'm not the only place where you can get special corset busks!  I'll be writing a fuller blog post next week telling you all about the "busk revolution".  In the meantime, here's a taster pic!  Stay tuned to find out more on where to find coloured busks, bespoke colour matched busks, and engraved busks for all your projects!

Here's a corset I made recently when testing out a few components on site, not least the recently released Victoria mid bust corset pattern.  I've adapted the pattern slightly by changing the shape of the top line slightly, and adding some suspenders.  I re-drew the bottom line of the corset so that at each point where I wanted a suspender, the line flowed nicely into the elastic ends.  That's all I did, so it was pretty easy peasy.  

It's a single layer corset - the boning channels are made from scraps of the same coutil (offcuts from cutting out the pattern!).  These are cut into 2.5cm strips and then run through the Prym bias binding maker to make boning channels.  I cut the coutil on the straight grain as this is best for scrap use and for stronger boning channels, however if you had a particularly deep curve over the hip (using another pattern perhaps) then you may want to use a bias grain for your self made bone channels.

With regard to sizing of the Sew Curvy patterns, go with the waist size first - it is easier to adjust the top (bust) and bottom (hip) than it is to use the correct size for those and then adjust the waist - so this is opposite to what a normal dressmaking pattern will tell you.

The components I used for this project are all listed with links here:

• Victoria corset pattern - this is a mid bust pattern with very simple single layer construction instructions and includes a bit about how to alter the corset into a full overbust.
• Gold plated busk fastner - 13"
• A boning set for the Victoria corset - this includes 4 flat steel corset bones and 8 spiral steel bones in various sizes
• Half a metre of ivory/gold rosebud corsetry coutil - you will need a whole metre for sizes above '14' (about a UK size 12).
• White 20mm plush elastic for the suspenders / garters
• 20mm suspender / garter clips
• 20mm adjustable sliders
• 20mm 'Scrolls' tulle lace trim for the bottom line
• 16mm cotton bias binding for the upper and lower edges of the corset
• 15mm double satin ribbon for the bow detail at the top (optional - does not alter the fit of the corset)
• 2 x 4mm Gold eyelets for the ribbon tie (optional)
• about 40 x 5mm gold eyelets for the back closure
• 7m cotton lacing in Ecru
• 12mm Prym bias binding maker (if making your own boning channels from coutil)
• 7m x 15mm cotton herringbone tape for boning channels if not making your own.