I have been busy getting as much done as possible before getting on a plane tomorrow to go visit family.  There’s a lot I want to post, but most of it will have to wait until I get back.

I spent most of Monday working on the white coutil tightlacing underbust in the hopes of finishing it before leaving, but that isn’t going to happen.  I have far too much to do today before the trip that has nothing to do with sewing, and yesterday was spent fixing a snafu (more about that below).

It needs the boning secured in place, edging, grommets, the double-busk, and the lacing panel.  Really, the end is in sight, but the time just isn’t available to finish it until next week.

I have been taking detailed photos as I go along, in the hopes of posting a tutorial on how I make plain coutil corsets.

The snafu is with the cream silk 1880’s wedding corset, proof positive that you can have a pattern that produces a fitting mock-up, and a completely unwearable final product.  I have tracked down what I believe to be the sources of the problems so I can avoid them in the future, but the 1880’s corset still needed to be fixed in order for it to be worn at the wedding this weekend.  Long story will come later, after I get back from the weekend.

Short story, she mailed the corset back to me.  It arrived Tuesday morning, and I spent about twelve hours inserting adjustment gores along the hip and making it pretty.  I added a bit less than 4″ total to the circumference of the hip.  It went back in the mail this morning, overnight to the customer.  Now I get to keep my fingers crossed that the gores make it wearable for her.  If they don’t, I’ll be making an entirely new corset for her after the wedding.  Thank goodness she still has the final mock-up, so if all else fails she still has a workable foundation for her wedding dress.

I wish there had been time for me to lace it onto my mannequin and take some good photos of the gores, but I was too exhausted by the time I finished last night.  The boning made it very difficult to photograph, but I was pleased with the final look despite the gores being unplanned.  The triangles are decorative machine stitches to re-enforce the gores and help them blend into the overall embroidered look of the corset.

Canvas surtout – 100% done (no photos yet)
Steampunk underbust – 100% done (no photos yet)
Adjustable underbust corset – 100% done (no photos yet)
Victorian silk overbust corset – 3rd mock-up mailed
White tight-lacing underbust – 75% done
Victorian overbust corset pattern with low hips and shoulder straps – Scale pattern drafted
Plain tabbed Elizabethan corset – Not started
Traditional/Punk Rock fusion Wedding Gown – Planning/mock-up stage, 1st mock-up mailed
Merry Widow corset pattern – Waiting on Customer Info
Machine washable corset dress – Pattern drafted, postponed