The main things I wanted to go into more detail about are inspiration, design ideas, and frustrations.
Choosing the theme:
To be honest I was really stuck for ideas for the themes this years, and it took me a while to find my feet. I was bouncing between both themes, and even with the idea of making a ballet themed corset from the Symington pattern, and at some points I really didn't think I would make something to enter at all.
I was initially put off by the ballet theme, because the idea of making a pancake tutu terrified me. I was convinced that there was no way I could possibly win this if I didn't go for a full-blown corset and tutu combo. I don't have the space, skills, or desire to make a huge tutu like this so I scrapped the idea of following the ballet theme altogether without really considering it.
The Symington pattern challenge was interesting, and I did think for a while that I would use this as the basis for my entry. When I started to seriously think about what I would do, I decided that this wasn't an option. I'm currently pregnant, so I couldn't make it to fit myself and I didn't have anyone I could use as a willing victim for the project.
The pleasure I would get from this is from achieving a perfect fit from Cathy's wonderful instructions. I would really have loved to make a period style corset as I keep meaning to do this and getting side tracked and making things which don't look historically accurate at all, but to be happy enough to enter it I really needed a person to make it for.
I considered adapting the pattern - starting with a standard draft, and then completely changing it for a hybrid antique/modern look (for example, altering the pattern to give the corset cups) but again, I needed a real person to fit this on.
Until the end of the year I just shrugged the competition off - I never expect to win, but making something for the sake of entering and then feeling disappointed when I saw my entry next to all the other beautiful things which are entered every year made me hesitant to put anymore time or energy into the idea, but around October I changed my mind.
I realized that I have been happy with the pieces I have made for fun recently, and it meant that I was doing something productive rather than just making random things.
I already knew that the Symington pattern was off the table for me, so I was left with the ballet theme to work with.
Gathering inspiration:
Looking back on my work from a few years ago, I really sucked. I have been making corsets for 12 years this year, which is almost half of my life. But until about 3 years ago I feel that I was atrocious and stuck in a rut. I have no idea why - I think I was convinced that doing the same thing over and over would make me better. I didn't look at the things that weren't good and do something to change them, I just kept on doing things the same way.
I had a wake up call at that point, and have tried to push myself with each thing I made ever since. I feel like my work has improved at a steady rate since then, with a few Eureka moments along the way to help fuel me and keep me going.
For this reason it was important to me that my entry showed progression in my work and helped me look at my work in a positive way - in the same way as I was nervous that entering at all would leave me deflated when I saw the other entries, I was scared that I might end up making something which left me disappointed.
This year was marked with a few Eureka moments, for which I am extremely grateful. There were a few themes which seemed to run through my progression in 2016.
1. The Wedding Dress
I started the year by stepping completely out of my comfort zone and making a wedding dress - my own wedding dress. I hated all the things I saw in the shops, and felt that they were really over priced. There's nothing quite like a saleswoman trying to convince you a £2000 dress is the height of luxury when you work with expensive materials and are aware the lace and silk used are not particularly good quality. It worked out a lot cheaper for me to by couture lace from France and high end British silk than it did to buy a dress I even remotely liked, particularly as I wanted something with sleeves which seems to be like asking for the moon on a stick.
I drafted the pattern from scratch - I went with something fairly simple but which I know looks amazing on my figure. The dress is a princess seam minidress - a strapless silk base layer with a long sleeved lace overlay.
Images by Linn Carlson Photography
Things I learned from this project:
I am more patient than I ever imagined - every thing on this dress was perfect. I pattern matched everything. When I was unable to do so (where the sleeves join to the dress) I hand sewed appliques of the lace over the seams to give the illusion of it being seamless.
I hand sewed the eyelash lace around the keyhole at the back of the dress above the buttons.
I literally sewed every single part of the lace to the silk -the entire lace overlay has been painstakingly stitched to the silk. It took me several hundred hours to make.
It was an entirely different experience to what I normally do - I was making something tight fitting but it wasn't boned, and wasn't made to be worn with a corset. - it was so strange to make something which is so pliable and soft, as I have worked with coutil for so long.
I can work with satin This has always been a hang up of mine - satin shows wrinkles up really easily and I haven't been confident enough to work with it for a few years. When I got the pictures of my dress back, I loved them. OK, you are basically looking at the lace, but the dress isn't wrinkled, it isn't cheap looking, and I didn't make a huge mess of it.
2. Cupped corsetry
I've loved cupped corsets for a long time, but making them is a little terrifying.
I am really indebted to Karolina Laskowska who helped give me the confidence to make my first cupped corset, and gave me my first cupped corset pattern to play with.
This is about 2.5 years old. It's really really awesome, and I am in love with the shape of this. I can, however, see a lot of faults in it. The fit wasn't great, because I just made up the pattern as it was given to me, rather than attempting to make something which fit me. The construction left a lot to be desired (I'm looking at you, binding at the top edge...)
It's around this time that something else spurred me on in my desire to create cupped corsets - the Foundations Revealed "corsets with cups" series
At the time I read it and was kind of like "eh, this is interesting but I'm not good enough." I filed it under "some day" and forgot about it for a while.
As my confidence increased, I went back to the article, and this year I feel like it has been one of the biggest things to push me and improve my skill set.
I made a few trial and error patterns, some of them followed the technique in the article to a T:
image by Threnody in Velvet
After this I began to branch further out and began to draft my own patterns.
The Corset
(kind of...)
Here it is! My competition entry for 2016/17:
I adapted a midbust Edwardian pattern, I used period accurate techniques, I hand dyed lace and painstakingly placed and stitched it.
It's so beautiful I want to cry.
Well, that pretty much happened when I realized I wouldn't be able to enter it.
I was making this in England when I was visiting my parents in the autumn, and I had left it there to finish off over Christmas.
Well, it sucks to be me because a week before Christmas I was told I wouldn't be able to fly for medical reasons.
It's so beautiful, and I was really really heartbroken (again, I was going to give up and not make anything to enter) but it was a blessing in disguise.
I ended up making something I am much happier with.
I made the actual competition corset from silk satin - the corset makers nemesis - and from a pattern I drafted with cups.
I was going to leave it plain but the further along I got, the more I wanted to add something (because lets me honest, that is what always happens when left to my own devices.)
I went with a simple but striking lace applique, as my inspiration was La Sylphide, who is traditionally costumed in an elegant but not extravagant costume.
The feedback I got from this stupid picture of the corset laced to a pillow before there were any bones added left me overwhelmed.
I am so in love with this piece, and honestly looking at it I cannot believe it is me that made it.
It's like something I would see online and sigh over - wishing I had the skills to make.
Well, I do.
I have worked hard this year.
* Making my dress left me refreshed and with a new outlook when it came to corset making .
* I was more willing to use a paler palette, which I was a bit wary of in the past.
* I was willing to use satin, which I have been terrified of since about 3 years ago.
* Honing my skills at creating cupped corsets has started to pay off - I love the things I am able to make using this technique.
It's not finished yet - I've actually been adding the finishing touches today - but I think I have bored people enough for one post anyway.
I hope this has offered some insight into my thought process over the course of the year, and how this piece came to be.
I will add some more about things I would have liked to do, or would have done differently, when I post some more after it is totally finished.
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