Foundations Revealed 5 Senses Competition - dress diary part 1

I have always loved corsets, and ever since I was a teenager I have been fascinated by underwear construction. I have dabbled in corset construction, but my focus was always on comfort, so often I avoided boning altogether. So, it could be argued, not really corset making at all! 

A 'corset' made of flowers for a florist exhibition. I used water balloons on the ends of the stems to keep the flowers alive!

I spent many years making wedding dresses, and while corset structures featured, they were still lightweight, and it was some time before I learnt about using fishbone instead of Rigilene. Even then, I was still focusing on comfort – the damage from too many Rigilene induced injuries clouding my perspective!

An early version of building corset structures into a dress using Rigilene. Unfortunately, Rigilene bends out of shape and doesn't have the necessary support.

Then a few years ago, after I was given a lovely modern corset, my interest in their construction was renewed, and I started looking into proper construction materials. I fell in love with spiral boning; it was aesthetic and comfortable. As a pattern maker, I prefer to make my own patterns, but in order to understand the fit, I bought several patterns hoping to understand the negative ease and shaping. I was never happy with the results, I struggled with the spiral tipping, and as a busy life took over, I let it go again.

This is a corset I machine embroidered, which helped support the structure.

Then last year it hit me again, only this time, with a force, and I decided to conquer my understanding of corsets. Being somewhat obsessive, and also loving paraphernalia, I equipped myself with a playground of materials and tools and was able to really immerse myself in the process and not worry about having to stop to buy supplies.

Building my tool collection!

And so it began: I was happy with my results, learning from each one, and tweaking the patterns and construction. I experimented with different body shapes. I listened to what women wanted from their corsets, and applied it to each progressive pattern. Having good tools on hand meant I achieved a quality of finish that was professional and polished.

I joined Foundations Revealed early last year, and was determined to enter the competition. My preference is for the Victorian silhouette, so the 5 Senses theme was the logical entry for me. In my research, I really liked the modern take on corsets, particularly the use of digitally printed fabrics, and the pattern matching challenges that were then presented. I love working on Illustrator, and have been exploring pattern making on this program as a cheap CAD alternative to more expensive pattern making software. So I knew early on how I would like to approach the design.