Browsing Tag

a few threads loose

Ohh La La Pin Up Sew Along… Applying Your Eyelets

Uncategorized March 2, 2012
Now that we have sewn our seams, added decorative bone casings, inserted the bones, and finished our centre back panel with self facing and fusing, we are able to apply our eyelets and lace up our corset for the very first time!
If you are using hook and eye tape, head on over to A Few Threads Loose for instructions on how to apply it.

Start by either transferring the lacing markings on the pattern onto your centre back seam OR make small markings, starting 3/4″ of an inch down from the top edge, every 1″ apart.  Eyelets should sit about 5/8″ away from the centre back edge.

Using your markings as a guide, punch small holes where your eyelets will go.  You can use an awl, or grommet pliers to make your hole.

Eyelets can be applied a number of ways – there are two common tools pictured above.
1. Grommet Pliers – these can be found at most hardware store, and will set 2 piece grommets.  Grommets come in many different sizes, so make sure the pliers you buy fit the eyelets you want to set.
2. Tool & Die – These often come with eyelet packages you purchase at the fabric store, and are set with a hammer.

I used grommet pliers to apply my grommets, and used a 2 piece grommet.  Two piece grommets are preferable for a corset that is going to be worn for an extended period of time, or if you plan on wearing it a lot.  Eyelets without washers tend to have rough edges and will work their way through your fabric, if you are applying much strain to the fabric around it.

Remember to insert a bone on either side of your eyelets to keep your lacing laying flat. This is the only spot in your corset where I really, really advise that you use boning.  The rest is up to you!

Now, lace it up and see how it fits! Do you feel like you need to add more boning? Does everything lay flat?

Next we are onto our binding.

Ohh La La Pin Up Sew Along… Sewing your Muslin.

Uncategorized February 22, 2012

I have to admit… I can be a lazy sewist, when I am sewing for myself, but lingerie muslins take no time to sew, because they are so small! No need to worry about interfacings or linings for your mock-up -You just need something to test your fit!

For my muslin, I did not worry about sewing flat felled seams, like I will be sewing in my finished garment. I stitched regular seams, 5/8″ in from the raw edge and pressed flat. The pieces fit together perfectly – great work on Anna’s part!

For the laced corset – On the centre back pannel, fold your 2″ extension flap over (towards the inside), press, and stitch 3/8″ in from the centre back edge to form a bone casing, and again 1 1/2″ in from the center back. We will add 2 bones to the mock up corset to test the fit. Insert a bone along the centre back, beside where the corset will lace. Always round off the edges of your boning, to prevent the bone from wearing through your fabric.

Instead of using eyelets on your mock-up, make a mark every 1 1/2″ down where your lacing will go and make a small button hole – this will allow you to lace up your corset to test the fit, without any waste of precious eyelets!

You now have a corset that laces up the back! Try it on and see how it fits.

Mine looked good from the front, but didn’t quite do up all the way in the back. I added 1/8″ of an inch to the side front and side back seam, which corrected the fit.
Oooo… Curvy! Va va va voom!

For those of you making a hook and eye corset, if you have extra hook and eye tape, you can add some to your muslin to test your fit.

Remember to transfer any changes you made to your muslin, over to your pattern.

So, how did your muslins fit? Did you need to make a lot of adjustment?

Ooh la la Pin Up Sew-Along… Grading Your Pattern Up Or Down.

Uncategorized February 22, 2012

Anna wrote an amazing post on grading your corset pattern up or down. You can easily apply her method to any pattern that you are looking to resize.

Following Anna’s directions, you can also easily extend the length of your corset for those with long or short waists (like little ol’ me!) by cutting and extending, or shortening your pattern up or down, and re-curving your lines.

Head on over to A Few Threads Loose to read Anna’s instructions on Grading your pattern, or read on below…

For those of you that don’t fit into the size range of people I had available to test the corset pattern on, then you’re in luck because I am at your disposal!

First I will show you how to grade to a smaller size, then I’ll show you how to grade to a larger size, though they are very similar.

Keep in mind that you should really make a muslin of this pattern, and you should REALLY make a muslin if you’ve made adjustments like these.

Today we’re going to use reader “E’s” 25″ waist as our starting point.
The smallest size on the pattern is a 29″ waist. (29″-25″=4″).
We’ll need to grade the pattern down 4″ to make it her size.

I like to use centimeters for this (don’t worry, there are centimeters on every ruler and yardstick out there) not because I live in Europe right now, but because it’s just easier than doing a bunch of fractional math all the time.

4″ is 10 cm. (roughly) Now luckily there are only 5 pattern pieces so we know that we need to distribute the 10 cm we’re removing from the pattern at 2 cm per piece.
(4″=10 cm) and (10cm/ 5 pieces = 2 cm per piece)
But wait! These pattern pieces are cut double, 2 of each, so it gets easier! We’re just removing 1 cm from each pattern piece.
Technically there’s just one of the center piece and it’s cut on the fold, but we can still distribute changes the same, as both ends of the piece will reflect the change.

Now we get to the cutting! I’m just going to show you how we’ll do this with pieces 1 and 2 but you’ll do the same with all of them.

Start by cutting the pieces vertically right down the center.

Measure the amount that you want to remove, in this case it’s 1 cm.
Note: if you are removing more than 1 cm form each piece, I know it’s more work but you’ll get better results if you split the pattern pieces into thirds and remove a bit from the inside of each. The same goes for grading the pattern larger than 1 cm per piece.

Next, trim off the amount to be removed from the piece you marked and tape the two pieces back together lining up the top.

At the bottom, you will have a little bit of jagged edge where the pieces don’t quite match up.

This end is a straight line so just line up a ruler between the tip of the pattern piece to the inside where it should match, mark, and then trim.

Do the same with each pattern piece.

To grade the pattern piece larger is a really similar process.

Reader “A” has a 37″ waist and also asked this question. That’s lucky because it’s another 4″ difference between the size she needs and the largest size on the pattern.

Using the same math from above, we know that we need to add 1 cm to each pattern piece.
(4″=10 cm) and (10 cm/ 5 pattern pieces = 2 cm per pattern piece, cut double, = a 1 cm adjustment)

I’m going to use piece # 5 to illustrate.

As with grading down, to grade up we split the pattern piece vertically down the center.

When I cut out a digital pattern, I always keep a handful of my paper trimmings from taping them together on hand for alterations like this.

I have measured and cut a strip 1 cm wide.

Place the piece in between your split pattern pieces and tape it back together.

Trim smooth the jagged edges and you’re ready to do it to the other 4 pieces.

Voila! Any questions?