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Sempstress
(costume & pattern geekery)
Unless otherwise specifically noted, the contents of this site
by Melissa Heischberg
is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
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I found your block pattern on the interwebs – I’m so terribly intrigued –
Any advise for a beginner wishing to bone her first corset?
Hi, Amanda,
How you bone a corset depends a lot on your body shape, but there are some general rules. For a ‘bethan style corset, you’ll want the boning running straight up and down at the center front and center back. The boning should fan out from the center front, so that it’s running diagonally by the sides. (In long lone corsets, or for column shaped bodies, you can run all the bones straight up and down. Hourglass and Barrel shapes will find that straight boning at the sides is uncomfortably pokey.)
As far as the mechanics of the boning process, the easiest thing to do (for me, at least) is to use jumbo cable ties. You can lay them out on the lining of your corset then trace down the sides so you know where to stitch your channels. Make sure the bones are cut 1/4-1/2″ shorter than the finished length of the channel – otherwise your corset will look all spiky at the edges. Hope that helps!