creating a corset pattern

Written by i j

Friday, 26 March 2010 16:25

What’s promised is debt so here we go… a lot time ago, I told you that I was going to make a post on how to make your own corset (handmade) well, the article is way too long for a single post so I have divided it in 3, how to make a corset Pattern, what materials to choose and actually making the corset, today we talk about…

How to make your own corset pattern

First of all lets say that this tutorial has been simplified as much as possible so anyone without practice in tailoring but with a little bit of time is able to try to create his/her own corset, that means that we wont see really hard things to do (we wont add the bones).

Let’s go:

The easiest way to get a corset it’s… to buy it, corset has a really interesting characteristic and its that since they are laced they can fit a lot of different sizes… and in the event that they don’t fit your size they have a chance of “making you fit it”, but the idea here is to create a corset pattern that suits you perfectly.

Firstly you are going to need some measures of yourself, for making it easy we will only use the following measures:

- your waist (1)

- your bust (2)

- From your waist to your underarm (3).

- Frontal size we want for the corset (Usually from just over your bust to your waist, but you can extend it a little bit lower for making it cooler)(4)

You will also need a really big piece of paper (a white cardboard as big as a big newspaper) and this illustration:

The first thing that you have to do (and probably the most important one) is to print this instructions, read them carefully and make sure you have a clear idea of the global procedure, then place this text and the above illustration in somewhere you can consult them frequently (without that illustration, trying to place mentally where are all letters it’s almost impossible).

Draw in the big paper the next lines and mark the following points:

Draw a line along the right side of your paper of same length than the frontal side length (4).

Subtract 5 cm if your bust size (2) and then divide the result in 2, with that number draw a horizontal line from the upper part of the previous line to the left.

Locate the middle point of that last line and then make a mark 5 centimeters to the left of it and 2.5 centimeters (cup A or B), 5 centimeters (cup B) or 7.5 centimeters (cup D+) downwards.

We will name that point “A”

From the leftmost point of the horizontal line, measure the same distance than before (2.5, 5 or 7.5 centimeters depending on your cup) and mark it as “B”.

Then mark as point “C” the horizontal line at one forth its length.

Draw a curve that joins points C,A and B, that’s going o be the upper side of your corset.

Now we are going to look for the lower side, mark a point measuring from point “A” downwards a distance equal to (3) and from there draw a horizontal line that cover all the paper.

Take (1) and substract 5 centimeters from it, divide the result by 2, then mark as “D” a point located the previous distance from the rightmost position of the horizontal line you just drew and 2.5 centimeters downwards.

Joining D and B you will have the central line of the back of your corset.

Next divide the line of your wait in 2 and mark it as point “E”, then divide each of the halves in 2 and mark those point as F (the one to the lefts of E) and G (The one to the right of E).

Draw a curve that goes from the center of the lower point of the frontal line of the corset until point G, then measure 2.5 centimeters upwards from point E and mark it. Draw a soft curve from point G to the last mark you just made, downwards to point F and then from F to D.

After all this mess (that you have absolutely no chance of understanding if you loose the upper illustration) if all went well you have ended the corset pattern.

But if you didn’t had enough yet and you want to add a variation you can add some suspenders (this is not in the above illustration so we will have to use our imagination).

For adding them what you have to do is to mark a point from 7.5 centimeters from the frontal upper point of your pattern and another one 2.5 centimeters from the previous point.

Then draw 2 perpendicular lines of 12.5 centimeters length upwards.

Then do the same from the back so… from the center upper point of the back of your corset draw a point at 7.5 centimeters and then another 2.5 centimeters from the previous one, then draw 2 perpendicular lines from those points upwards of about 12.5 centimeters.

If all went well you pattern should look something like this:

In deed the pattern that you just made is HALF pattern, for making the complete patter we will use a cheap fabric, anyone is good, ¡¡Don’t use the fabric you bought for making the actual corset!!.

Fold your fabric in 2 then place the paper pattern just above the fabric lining the fold with the frontal side of your paper pattern (that’s the only side that you won’t need to cut or draw anything on it).

Then draw a line that borders all the paper patter (except the fold) and then cut the fabric following that line.

When you unfold the fabric you should have the full corset patter, you should use it for testing your corset, try to “wear” your pattern and check how good it fits.

You have to pay special attention to the curve that goes just under your underarm so it don’t rub too much, if that’s the case this is the time to try to fix it and make sure that your pattern it’s long enough in it’s frontal side (for obvious reasons)

You should be unable to join the corset behind you, in deed it should lack from 3 to 7 centimeters, that’s normal and that distance will disappear if we tighten strong enough the corset (tats what we are talking about with this tutorial doesn’t it?)

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If you made your pattern with suspenders you will need someone to join them with pins at the adequate distance for them to fit you.

And that’s all, you have your basic corset pattern, feel free to make some modifications in the distances if you want a more or less tighten corset or if you want different curves on it.

Another modification consist in placing the fold of the fabric in the right side of your paper pattern, that way you will have the lace in the frontal of your corset.

In next article about corset creation we will talk about corset materials so you can buy the adequate one for you.