Twisted Gears Mini-Con

Yesterday I attended the Twisted Gears steampunk mini-con at the University of Houston.  I honestly wasn't sure what to expect since it was a small con put on by first time organizers.  But I wanted to go out and support it, and it was a good opportunity to have a vendor's table for the first time and present a panel on corsetmaking.  I was thrilled to find that the event exceeded my expectations!

It's a really good instance of what can be done with very little.  The con was held in the student center on the U of H campus, in three meeting rooms: a large room for vending and two small panel rooms.  It only ran on Saturday, from 1PM to Midnight.  There were about eight different vendors, and an assortment of panels on various steamy topics.  I didn't get to attend any panels except the one I presented because I was vending the rest of the time, but I heard positive things about them for the most part.

Presenting my own panel for the first time was a bit nerve-wracking.  When you're presenting a whole lot of information in an hour's time, it's hard to gauge how much the audience is following or what in particular they are interested in.  I know ways I can improve the panel for the future, so that's good.  And the feedback I got was positive, so maybe a few people learned something.

My vending experience was excellent.  As a first-time vendor I didn't know what to expect in terms of sales.  We did really well.  I sold a good variety of items and got good feedback.  I didn't sell any high-dollar items, but still made more than I expected.  I also loved the experience of sitting behind the table, meeting people and talking with them about all kinds of topics.  Plus I found out my husband is a really good cravat salesman!

But what was mostly nice about the event was the vibe.  Almost all the attendees were Houston area locals, most already involved in or interested in steampunk, with a few college students and others thrown in.  So a lot of the people there had met before and at least vaguely knew each other and it made for a relaxed, community atmosphere.  I got to talk with steampunks I've met before, but I also met quite a few new people and had some good conversations.

What it comes down to is that my husband and I had a really good time yesterday, and I think the con was a rousing success!  And I don't know why sitting behind a vendor's table all day makes one so tired and sore, but it does.  I'm going to recovering for a few days.  And then I need to get busy making more things to sell and developing some new patterns.

Corsetmaking Part 4: The Folded Seam Method Tutorial

Update: I have an improved tutorial on this method published on the site Foundations Revealed.  It is available now for free.

As I mentioned in my previous post, my favorite method of corset construction doesn't really have a good, agreed-upon, descriptive name. I've seen it called a lot of different things, but none of them really say much about what the method IS. So I've named it the Folded Seam Method. It probably won't catch on and I'll just be one more person calling this method something different, but oh well.

1.  Cut all your corset pieces for all your layers.  For this method it helps to have a generous seam allowance.  I am using a 3/4" allowance, but you can use 5/8".  For this corset I have my outside fashion fabric layer, one layer of coutil, and one cotton lining layer.   My next step was to combine my fashion and strength fabric into one.  I did this by flat-lining: sewing around the edges of the pieces.  You can also use fusible web.  You can see I've marked the numbers of the corset pieces with chalk.  This is important, since they can get confused.  I number my corset pieces from the center front to the back.  It doesn't matter how you number them, just so long as you're consistent.

2.  I wanted this corset to have a floating lining for a cleaner look, so I assembled my lining layer first.   I sewed the seams, pressed the seam allowance (SA) towards the front of the corset, and topstitched the SA down about 1/8" from the seam.  I do this extra line of stitching for added strength and to keep the seam allowances out of the way.

3. Insert the busk at center front, attaching the front layer to the lining.  Busk insertion is not really difficult, but does have a lot of steps.  I'm not going to cover them here, but instead I will point you to the tutorial I used to learn how to do it.  Sidney Eileen's busk insertion tutorial.
The difference from her method is that I am using a 3/4" seam allowance to cover my busk pieces in the back, rather than two layers of strength fabric.  So you can see that my lining is now attached to the front of my corset, as is my waist tape.  As a floating lining is only attached to the corset at the busk and at the back grommet panel, I simply fold it out of my way for the rest of the corset assembly.

4.  Attach your next corset panel.  Sew the panels, right sides together.  If you have two layers of coutil, or a non-floating lining, you will sew ALL the layers of your corset together at once, right side of the top layer against the right side of the previous panel, right side of your lining layer against the right side of the previous lining panel.  Fold the panel pieces into place, leaving ALL the seam allowances pointing towards the rear of the corset.  Press.   (You can see I have carefully pinned my waist tape into it's right place.  It will be caught in the stitches for each seam, so it is secured in place.)

5.  After pressing your seam allowances towards the back, topstitch them in place, about 1/8" from your seam.   (Note: at all points, you are sewing through ALL the layers, unless you are making a floating lining like me.  You can see the lining hanging down, not attached anywhere but at the busk.)

6.  Sew a second line of stitches 1/4" from the first line of topstitching.  This is your bone casing.  If you are using boning wider than 1/4", make your stitching the width of your boning.  For 1/4" bones, I find the standard machine foot works great, because it is the perfect width if you line it up with the previous line of stitches.  You want your boning to insert smoothly, without having to force it in, but not to be loose in the casing because it can twist or rub, causing wear to the corset.

This is what the inside of my corset looks like at this point.   Again, if you are using two layers in your seam construction, all the raw edges will be bound up between your layers.  You can see that the bone will be surrounded fully by the top layer's seam allowance, ensuring it has very strong coutil all around it.  If you are using more layers, obviously your casings will be that much stronger.  This is one reason I like this method: because it is very strong.  Your bones aren't going to be popping out anytime soon.  If needed/wanted you can trim the seam allowances now.

7.  Insert the bone into the casing.  Make sure it is sliding in between your coutil (strength) layers.  I guess you could wait till the end to insert all the boning at once, but I like to finish a seam/bone casing and be DONE with it.  That's another reason I like this method.  It feels faster (even if it isn't) because you're just working from start to finish and not having to go back over and over again.  (Notice the tips of the seam allowance poking out along the edges.  There are fancy ways of drafting patterns to avoid this, but I just trim them off at the end before binding.)

8. Continue attaching each new panel in this way, until you reach the back of your corset.  Congratulations, your corset is all assembled, though you still have some work to do.

9.  Now is the time to insert any additional bones.  I usually like to have one bone down the center of any but the thinnest of panels.  This helps with support and smoothing the figure.  So for this pattern I am going to add bones to the three side panels.  I do this by cutting strips of coutil and sewing these down the middle of the panel, forming a channel.  If you are concerned about strength, you can also make tubes out of these strips and sew the tubes to the inside of the corset, but since I am using really strong fabric, I'm not worried.  The seams take most of the actual strain.

10. Close the corset at the back by folding over both the top and bottom layers and topstitching.  I was careful to fold my lining layer a bit more that the outside so it wouldn't show along the back seam.

11.  Sew away from your topstitching at the width of your flat steel bone.  I'm using a 1/2" steel bone, because it's what I have on hand.  If your seam allowance is not large enough for your bone, you can add a large strip that will serve as protective backing for both bones and the grommets. After inserting the center back bone, measure the width needed for your chosen grommets.  I've marked a line with chalk to help me make my next line of stitching.   Create the channel for the bone for the other side of the grommets by stitching two lines 1/4" apart.

12. Insert your grommets. This can be time-consuming.  I hand-grommet my corsets because it is the most secure and reliable method, and I can't afford the really expensive presses.  I also stretch my holes rather than cut them, since this makes the grommets much stronger and less likely to pop out.  I use a corset awl to make the hole and then insert a chopstick to further stretch out the hole so I can get a #0 grommet in.  For further tips, see
Sidney Eileen's grommeting tutorial.  You can use any grommets, but I've had a really good experience with these Lord & Hodge Grommet Kits. The tools are quality and don't warp when you hit them a lot like the ones I bought at the craft store.

13.  Almost done, Almost Done!  All that's left is to clean up the edges of your corset and bind them.  This is another complicated step that I will let Sidney Eileen explain.   I recommend using pre-made bias tape for your first attempt, as the stretch will make it easier.  For this corset I used self-fabric, but after trying to make my own bias tape and ending up with a mess, I decided to try using strips of fabric cut on the crossgrain (with the edges melted to prevent fraying).   It ended up looking pretty good.

And that's it!  If any parts of this tutorial are unclear, please let me know.  And if anyone is interested in this corset, it is for sale!

Corsetmaking Part 3: Corset Construction

So you've made a mock-up of your corset pattern, changed it based on how that fits, and made another mock-up.  You like how it fits.  You have your final pattern.  You have your materials.  You're ready to make the damn thing already!

WAIT.  First you have to decide what construction technique you will use.  The method you choose will depend on your skill and comfort level, personal preference, and desired appearance or use of your final corset.   There are a bunch of different methods of constructing a corset, but most of them are sort of advanced.  I think there are three main construction methods that you need to choose from as a beginner.

1. The Sandwich Method - This is the most basic method, really.  It's the one that most beginner corset patterns use, I think.  The idea here is that you have two layers of strength fabric, and you sandwich the bones in between these two layers.   Each layer is put together on it's own, then you match the seams up and sew the layers together to make the channels for the boning.

Sidney Eileen has a great tutorial for making a basic two-layer corset.  (The rest of her tutorials are excellent as well.  I will refer to them again.) Keep in mind that you can use the two-layer method even if your corset has more than two layers of fabric.  I usually cut my pieces of fashion fabric and strength fabric and I flat-line them together.  This means I put the fashion fabric onto the strength fabric and sew all around the edge to attach them.  You can also attach them using fusible web.  This can give your corset a really smooth look, but different brands of fusible web work differently, so test it first.  So you have an outside "layer" that is really two layers of fabric.  You can have your second strength layer either double as your lining, you can attach it to a lining layer in the same way as the fashion layer, or you can add a floating lining that is only attached at the back and front of the corset, but doesn't have all the boning channels sewn through it.  (More on that later.)

Advantages of the sandwich method: It's fairly easy to understand, your boning channels are relatively smooth and thin, you can place the channels anywhere you want, and since you assemble the whole corset in layers before putting in any boning, you can try it on or at least hold it up to you to double-check the fit before putting in any boning.   I used this method for my most recent corset because I wasn't 100% sure of the fit of the pattern I was using (do as I say, not as I do) and I had to rip it apart and reassemble it a bunch of times.

Disadvantages of the sandwich method: This method require very precise sewing, since if you vary your seam width at all, the seams will not match up perfectly between your layers and you will get bunching or wrinkling in these areas.  I'm not a very precise sewer, so I don't like this method.  My last corset had a couple of places where the lining layer was smaller than the outer layer and the outer layer bunches in those spots.  Ick.


2. External (or internal) Bone Casings - This method is also a pretty simple idea.  You have your corset, which is fully assembled without any boning.  Then you make little tubes of material to hold your bones and you sew these casings down on the outside of your corset.  This can be a very striking style, and it's one I really like the look of.  Check out this lovely example:

To make the channels you will take strips of your strength fabric and strips of your fashion fabric and sew these (together) into a tube that is just larger than your boning.  It may take some experimenting to figure out the right width of strip to use.  You don't need to sew the tubes with right sides together and turn (that would be a pain!)  Just sew the edges together and when you lay the tube down on the corset the raw edges will be hidden behind the casing.  Before you sew your casing onto your corset, you want to press them into shape, but you need to use a quilter's pressing bar inside the tube.  This makes the casing conform to the right shape to hold the bone.  Then edge-stitch the tube down on both sides and insert your bone.   You can also put casings on the inside of the corset (usually covered by lining) using the same method.  This is a more secure and heavy-duty option.

If I ever do another externally boned corset, I'll make a full tutorial.  Right now that's not on the horizon, though.  I haven't found a real tutorial of the method I described above, but I found this video on how to use pressing bars to make internal and external casings.  The second half is what I've been talking about.  I've never considered using the bars inside the fabric while stitching, though.  That's a great idea.

Advantages of the External Bone Casing Method: It looks damn cool.  Also you can make a really thin corset with just one layer of strength fabric (good for summer!).

Disadvantages of the External Bone Casing Method: It can be time consuming to make all the little casings.  Also, my only corset made this way is my everyday corset that I wear to sew in, and after six months the bones have started to wear through the casings, because on the front of the bone there is only one layer of fabric holding them in.  Also, the external casings stick out a lot more than internal boning does, and that wouldn't be ideal for something you want to wear under clothing without showing.

3. My Favorite Method - Ok, I don't think this method has actually got a real name among corsetmakers.  I've seen it called the welt-seam method, the flat-felled seam method, and just the volutelady method, after the person who first posted about it on the corsetmakers community on livejournal.  I'll call it the Folded Seam Method cause it needs a descriptive name, dammit.  (Ooo, we can call it the FSM, and then it will be confused for the Flying Spaghetti Monster!)

The idea with this method is that you construct all layers of the corset at once, panel by panel, building the boning channels into the seams as you go.  Here, there are diagrams here.  This is my preferred method of corset construction and I am going to do a whole photo-heavy tutorial on this.   Here's a picture of a seam done in this method, with a bone inserted.



Advantages of the Folded Seam Method: It doesn't require the same precision as the sandwich method.  You are putting all the layers together at once, so they are always the same size.  It's also very fast.  You just sew your seams once, instead of doing it over and over for each method and then stitching some more for the boning.  Three lines of stitching for each seam and your bone is placed and you're done.  It's also very secure, since the bone is sandwiched between the seam allowances of ALL the layers of your corset.  That puppy ain't coming out anytime soon.

Disadvantages of the Folded Seam Method: The seams/boning channels can get bulky with all that fabric in there, but I don't think it's unattractive.  You only make the corset once, so going back to make changes is pretty much impossible.

So, I hope that wasn't too confusing.  Tomorrow I will start working on my tutorial for the Folded Seam Method.  It will take you step-by-step through making a corset with one layer of strength fabric, one layer of fashion fabric, and a floating lining.  In the meantime, I'm open to answer any questions.

Tutorial: Those $&(#@&!) Welt Pockets

If you've ever made a 19th century vest or frock coat, or some modern styles, you've come up against the dreaded welt pocket. These pockets look nice, and naturally you want lots of pockets to hold your gadgets, but boy are they a pain in the ass! It doesn't help that the instructions that come with the patterns are so confusing and vague as to be totally useless.

When I made my first vest, I spent 4 days straight trying to get the damn pocket to work. And then I gave up and left it for 4 months. Finally I managed something close to a welt pocket. Well now it's been a year and I'm working on my sixth vest. It was on my fourth vest that I finally GOT the welt pocket. I could make one with a minimum of frustration and without having to reference the internet or any sewing books. It's still a long, complicated process, but it doesn't have to be impossible.

So here is my method of making welt pockets. (This is for a pocket with one welt on the bottom. If you want two welts, you can add another to the top of the pocket.) I apologize for the quality of some of these photos. It's hard to take pictures one-handed.

Welt Pocket Tutorial
The pieces you should have from your pattern are the piece into which you will insert the pocket, a welt (with interfacing), one pocket lining piece made from face fabric and one from lining fabric. In this example, I am making the pocket out of contrasting fabric.

1. Fold your welt piece in half lengthwise, wrong sides together. Stitch or baste about 1/4" away from the raw edge. (Your pattern may designate a different width.) Carefully place the welt on your vest front, aligning it with pocket placement markings. You want your stitching line to match up with the bottom of the pocket.



Stitch welt in place along your previous stitching line, leaving at least a 1/2" unstitched at either end. Do not backstitch because you may need to remove some of the stitches when you flip your welt through to the other side. You essentially only want to stitch the welt down between the sides of the pocket.



2. Place your lining pocket over the welt, matching the bottom of the pocket marking with the stitching line on the welt. The lining should be the same width as the welt, make sure these are aligned. This is the only piece I really bother chalking the pocket guide onto, but it is important to do so.

Magnetic Sewing Tools

This has nothing to do with steampunk, but I thought it might be interesting/useful to fellow crafters.

I am not a neat person. This extends to my sewing area, which tends to be a series of huge constantly shifting piles of fabric, patterns, half-finished projects, printed tutorials, and various tools. In an effort to cut down on the amount of frantic digging I have to do every time I need a tool, I've installed a magnet board on the wall next to my sewing table and put magnets on all my tools.

From sewing

As you can see, the only wall space I have within reach is this 5" wide strip between two large windows. So I had to make my own magnet board. I used a tin sign we had laying around. My husband cut it in half for me, I glued fabric to it with Mod Podge, and we screwed it to the wall. (The fabric is from a sheet set I picked up at Goodwill. Isn't it cute?)



The clear case at the top holds my bobbins. The black tube is a spray-painted medicine bottle. I realized it was the perfect size to hold a folded up measuring tape. And I can NEVER keep track of those. Other common sewing tools are up there, along with my corset awl, a pencil, sharpie, and tailor's chalk. My current chalk is broken from being dropped on the floor a million times. And I lost the cap. For items I thought I would need to replace frequently, like the chalk, I glued the magnets on with hot glue. For everything else I used E6000.

From sewing

I bought two sizes of magnets as seen above. The smaller ones are actually stronger, so I ended up having to add an extra small magnet to some items I originally only used a large one on.



And that's it! Hope this inspires you to find ways to be more organized. In the meantime, I'm trying.

New Pattern for Sale: Tie-on Bustle

I'm very excited to announce that I have a new sewing pattern for sale. It's for a Tie-on Bustle overskirt.





It's a quick and easy addition to any outfit that adds a lot of steampunk style. It's also a pretty simple pattern, with step-by-step instructions and photos. So it would be good for someone just starting to sew.

It can be purchased here, at my etsy shop.

Also, let me sneak in a reminder about my Steampunk Military Spats pattern. It's very popular.

I have another tutorial coming to this blog soon, and the next part of the corsetmaking series. One thing at a time...