Introduction

• Back Lacing Corset Pattern (from Drea Leed's site)
• Front Side Lacing Corset Pattern

Drea Leed has an excellent set of directions for making a back lacing corset on her site. This leaves very little for me to say about them (except that I find the uncomfortable and getting into one unassisted is am amazingly strenuous process that roughly resembles an aerobics tape played on fast forward.) That being said, I prefer front lacing corsets. I have heard two complaints about them: 1) "They're not period". Well, actually, there's a picture in Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion (the Elizabethan volume) of a woman in her dressing gown, brushing her hair and wearing what is described as a pink, front lacing pair of bodies. (I will try to look up the reference and find a copy of the picture later.) That's good enough for me.

Objection 2 is "There's too much bulk in the front from the lacings." The pattern below is for a corset which laces up either side of the front, which solves this problem. This is not documentably period pattern*. It is, however, easy to get yourself into, lies correctly, and is even reasonably comfy (for a corset). Also, it can be drastically resized by remaking only one of the pieces, which is quite the dandy little perk for those of us prone to weight fluctuation.

This is the finished result of the following pattern. I decorated this one, which is not period to my knowledge, but I had a problem last year with the top edge of my corset 'peeking out' right above my bodice and decided that this year, should that happen again, I might as well decorate it so it looks like I really meant to do that. ;)

Materials:

• 1 yard sturdy fabric - I used a cotton denim in a rather fashionable shade of green. Duck is sturdier, but if you use it, line it with a soft flannel or something to prevent abrasion. Don't use two layers of light cotton, no matter how tiny you are - it just won't hold up. It is really in your best interests to buy 100% natural fibers (cotton, linen, etc) for this. PREWASH IT.
• Boning. Um, lots. (Varies by size, but start with about 4 yards. If you're serious enough about your costuming to be making a corset, you really don't have to worry about excess boning going unused. Use a heavy boning with at least some give to it. I use the heavy duty, 36"x1/2" cable ties. They can be cut to length with a mid sized wire snips (round the corners!), are flexible yet sturdy, washable, and will never ever rust. Do not use Rigeline, which is made of plastic rods interwoven with mylar thread. The plastic bits always work loose and poke through your fabric. I spent an entire day at a faire once with the boning in my bodice (pre-corset days) trying to work it's way into my armpit. That leaves a pain that will linger.
• Grommets - 30 or more. Do not use any grommet/eyelet that comes in a package with the word 'Dritz' on it. They are not made to stand up to the abuse that a corset gets. Go to your local hardware store and look for 1/2 inch tarp grommets (the kind that get pounded down by a hammer).
• Biased tape, grosgrained ribbon, or your edge binding of choice, 1" wide. (1-4 yards, size and use dependant)
• Laces
• A busk (paint stir sticks work really well here), if you want one. I'd recommend it.

Measurements:

• A: The desired front length of the corset. It is a good idea to measure this with a yardstick, so you can try sitting down and see about how much your busk will poke at you in the finished corset. You should also note how much of this measurement is below your natural waist line.
• B: The measurement from your waist in back to the desired back height of the corset. You can have someone else measure this, or kinda guess at it then check how it looks on the paper pattern later.
• C: Your bust measurement (at widest point) minus 2-3 inches, divided by 2.
• D: Your waist measurement minus 2-3 inches, divided by 2.
• E: You desired waist to armscye (armpit) measurement. The best way to get this correct is to put on your favorite comfy bra (one that doesn't rub or poke you under the arm), and measure from the top elastic band under the arm down to your natural waist. Do not stretch at all while doing this. Tucking the top of the measuring tape under the bra so that the 0 mark is level with the elastic then gently smoothing it down to your waist with the other arm is about the best way to do this.

The Pattern:

On a large piece of thin paper (the large sheets stores wrap china and glassware in work well), draw a straight line about 6" up from the longest edge of the paper. This will represent the waist line measurement for the corset pattern.

Draw line E, the waist to armscye measurement, directly perpendicular to the waistline (on or about the middle of the line). From the intersection of line E and the waistline, mark the point that is 1/2 the length recorded for D in both directions. (You are centering the waist measurement against the underarm line.) Measure, from the top of line E, a distance that is 1/2 of measurement C in both directions, parallel to the waistline. Now, pick a side of the pattern to be the back of the corset. In my picture, this is the left side, so we'll use that. On the left side of the pattern, mark a line from the end of the marked waist(D) to the end of the bust line (C). Measure this line - mark the length of B on it, or extend it to the length B if necessary. One the other side of the picture, draw a line from the end of D to the end of C, line before. Now, extend this line below the waistline by the amount the corset will extend down past your natural waist. Adjust the top of the line to reflect the full corset front measurement recorded for A, just like you did for line B.

Now, we will lay out some additional geometry that will help us draw in the curves for the top and bottom of the corset. At the bustline, mark a line 3-4 inches long, centered on line E. This should be the lowest dip in the top of the corset, which rests under your arm. If you have larger arms, you will want to make this line longer. At the waist line, measure 1-2 inches above the waist and mark that point on line E. Mark a point two inches towards the back from line E, at the same height as the mark you just made. This is so that the corset rides slightly above your waist at the sides. Trust me, this is much more comfortable, and results in a very flattering line. Right next to line B, at the waist line, measure down 2" and mark a line from there to the waistline. From the bottom of this line, measure over 2", and mark a line to there, them mark a final line straight up to the waist line (this is the odd little square bit poking down from the bottom back of the corset in the picture). This will be a boned tab, which will do two thing: it helps prevent the corset from sliding downward and becoming uncomfortable, and it provides some lower back support. (Made and fitted correctly, corsets can actually be very comfortable. Honest.) Now, play connect-the-dots. You should come up with a picture very much like the one I drew. Note that the curves in front are more gradual than the curves in back. This is a good thing.

We need to draw the line labeled 'Cut Line' next. This is where we will separate the pattern for the front of the corset from the pattern for the back of the corset. Make a mark about 1/3 of the way from the front to the back, along the bust line. This should fall slightly in front of your front mark for the arm area. Make another mark, about 1/4 of the way from the front to the back along the waist. This is half way between the line E and the front. Mark the Cut Line between these points.

Now, do yourself a favor - cut the whole thing out, around the outside line you drew while playing connect-the-dots. (Don't cut the cut line yet.) Hold it round yourself, from center front to center back, and check that it's not too high or too low at any crucial point (like, say, the front - you don't want this too low. It should be a good 2" above widest part of the bust, more if heredity was particularly gracious towards you. If you hold it at the center of your back, it should come within 2-3 inches of your center front. If you hold the center front to yours, the cut line should not run under your arm. (It will rub annoyingly and be hard to lace if it ends up under your arm.)

If it's all good, cut along the cut line. Now, you have to choices. If you're a much more mindful being than I, and always remember to cut seam allowances, you're done with the pattern. For the rest of us, it's time to get another large sheet of thin paper. Lie the two pieces you have now so that lines A and B lie along opposite edges of the paper, and there is at least 1" of clearance between the pieces. Mark 1/2" outside each piece along all edged except A and B. These are your seam allowances. Seam allowances are very important, she says with some chagrin.

Sewing and finishing:

Lie out your pattern on your fabric. Lines A and B should be on the fold, so that you get a full sized back and full sized front. You will need to cut each twice, so a clever person with good scissors would fold the fabric in half, then in half again the same direction, and cut everything at once.

Hopefully, if you're reading and attempting this, you have some experience with patterns and sewing. Take one of each, front and back, and sew your ribbon, biased tape, etc, and pin it 1/4" down from the top edge of the right side of each piece. Sew this down, 1/2" from the top. Now, match the pieces (back1 to back2, front 1 to front2) right sides together, and sew along the sides and bottoms (1/2" seam allowance). Clip your corners and turn right side out. Now, sew the channels for the boning and busk (if using). The busk should be centered in the front. If you are using it, sew these channels first. If you are not using it, you should put at least three lines of boning right down the front of the corset. In any case, standard procedure is to make each channel only slightly wider than what it will contain. In the front, all of your channels will be angled, kind of line a fan. They follow the angle of the front sides, so most of them won't end at the bottom but at the bust channel. You will definitely want one line of boning down each of the four side seams, then leave a 3/4" space and run another line of boning. In back, you will want at least one line of boning running from each side of either tab (that's a total of four lines). I have more than that. You can sort of see the depressions from the stitching of the boning channels on the picture of my corset above. The busk channel is hidden under the center piece of trim.

Now, you need to cut the boning to the right length for your boning channels, and put it into them. The boning should be a bit less than the length of the channel - 1/4" or so. Ditto for your busk. To to finish the top edge of the corset, take the binding/ribbon/whatever that you sewed on to two of the pieces earlier, and flip it tightly over to the back (so that it covers the openings of the boning channels - you might need to trim the back a bit so that the raw edge of the fabric doesn't try to escape from the binding. Whip stitch this down tightly - as tight as you can. In the picture above, I handstitched a grosgrained ribbon along the entire edge of the front for decorative purposes, and along the top and sides of the back.

The last step is to add the grommets. If you are using 1/2" grommets, you should mark for one every 3/4 inches or so. Start directly below the top binding, just past the inside edge of the first line of boning (this is why we left the 3/4" between that and the next one). If you are cross lacing your corset, the grommets on the front and back side should line up exactly (when I do this, I put all of the grommets on one side first, then match that up with the corresponding side and stick pins through the holes of the grommets into the unfinished piece to mark where the grommets will go there). If you are spiral lacing, your grommets should be offset by a half step. The corset pictured is spiral laced. You really want to put the grommets reasonably close together. Follow the manufacturer's instructions for applying the grommets. Test one or two on a doubled up piece of the scrap material from your corset first, to see how you need to apply and pound them - better to waste one or two grommets than to waste all that work you've put into your corset!

Now, try putting it on. It should actually be frighteningly easy to do. If you've never worn a corset before, you might want to get used to walking around, sitting down, breathing, etc in one. Now, realize that you've just magically lost 2" off your waist and go have some ice cream or something. :)

*There are, however, many points of reference for gowns which laced on either side of the back at an angle. Moving the seams to the front of a garment, for ease of lacing, does not seem like a terrific leap to me. I have some vague fantasy wherein women who did not have the money for servants, but wished to be seen in finer apparel, might have done exactly this. (Humor me.)