“8” is in quotes because all told this is less than a day’s work, but it happened in very inefficient mini sewing sessions over the past couple weeks.  There were several days when all intentions of sewing were thwarted.

So, at this point the corset is technically finished.  It is entirely sewn and grommeted.  The only detail left is the period fan lacing, and then I will be making the chemise and bodiced petticoat to go with it.

The top edge was trimmed and edged, as described in How to Edge a Corset and, because of the shoulder straps, How to Edge Around Tabs.

The next step was to add the bust ribbon, a small silk taffeta ribbon along the front of the bust which can be tightened to cinch in the top of the bust slightly, or just tied into a nice little bow for decoration.

I edged the entire top edge of the corset before adding the bust ribbon so the ribbon would not create friction and potentially fray the raw edge of the corset inside the edging.  It also means the bust ribbon can be removed without causing any harm to the corset.

My edging ribbon is not quite wide enough to cover the existing edging, so I stitched to lengths of ribbon edge to edge.

I needed to leave a small hole at the center of the bust where the silk ribbon emerges, so, following the same procedure as for normal edging, I started just to the side of center and stitched until I was at the side seam.  Roughly one inch of edging ribbon is left loose at the outer edge.

I then repeated the procedure on the other side, leaving a hole about 1/4″ wide.  Here, the two silk taffeta bust ribbons are threaded through the hole.

To secure the outer end of the bust ribbon, I stitched it to the loose end of the edging ribbon.  I used a zig-zag stitch and went back and forth several times to make sure it will hold.

This photo shows the silk bust ribbon stitched to the cotton edging ribbon.

The new layer of edging ribbon is finished exactly the same as normal edging, but I had to be careful not to catch the silk bust ribbon in the stitching.  The outer ends are folded under, but not stitched.  That way if the bust ribbon needs to be replaced, new ribbon may be threaded in from the armpit area and secured by hand.

This photo shows the bust ribbon pulled slightly, so there is some gathering along the top edge.

After that, I grommeted the shoulder straps and the back edges.  The shoulder straps are smaller grommets than the back edge.

Project: Regency Corset