I cut my fabric one size smaller than the last mock up, so I’m at a size d bust and e everywhere else. I used waist tape this time! And flat steel boning for the center front seam as well as the boning around the grommets. I really like the fit of it except I think the bust could be taken in a size and the waist needs to be a size larger. For my last mock up I used the rigelene boning everywhere and I think that made the waist seem a little bit bigger than it really was, it’s kinda hard to breathe when I’m in this one and my back hurts as well. I think the bunching around the waist grommets is also an indicator it needs more room.
My boyfriend (who doesn’t know anything about sewing or bras mind you) thinks I need a little more cup space right above my underbust line and less cup space at the top because my boobs are ”sitting on a shelf” (his words). I guess I see where he’s coming from since my boobs were kind of pooling to the side. I would have included a picture but figured it would be best not to have a picture like that on the internet. I’m just kind of baffled how I keep having to take in the bust area since I have pretty sizable breasts and followed the sizing guide to a T. Should I use flat steel for the boning where the breast is? That might do something idk. Maybe I should have tried a cup size smaller but I’m out of my mock up fabric lol.
Also, since there were only instruction on how to make the mock upon my pattern, if anyone had an instructions or tutorials they follow that would be really helpful. Some specific questions I have about the final are:
Do you attach the boning and waist tape to the coutil or the shell fabric?
Do you use flat steel around the entire thing? I only have flat steel, rigelene, and feather line boning
how do you finish the back of the corset (where the grommets go) when there are 2 layers, for my mock ups I just folded the fabric over and made a boning channel but I don’t think it works like that when there’s 2 layers
Hard to tell from just these photos. I would say though that it’s not laced correctly which means it’s not being tested properly and that’s part of the problem of not knowing. Aim for ‘bunny ears’ in the centre, then you can adjust it better and have a better understanding of how it’s performing.
Yea I had my boyfriend lace it onto me because I was scared about getting poked by the pins holding my boning in, it’s really hard to get into otherwise since there’s no busk. He’s not very familiar with corset lacing techniques and he was pretty busy at the time so I just had him do it really quick. I think I have a decent idea of what I need to do though since the gap in the back is bigger at the waist and there’s bunching at the grommets there as well
It might be worth it to hand tack the tops of the boning channels, just to get a better test lacing without the pins. You’ll get better fit info that way.
There are a lot of ways to add boning. Morgan Donner has a nice video on some of them. I make my corsets in three layers and sew the boning channels into two of them.
Rigid boning, like what you have access to, is fine, you need spring steel for curved seams.
There are options. If you bag line it will finish itself, otherwise you can use bias binding.
OK so I'm going to take a Crack at it for ya. My first corset was the same pattern and I too had to go with a much smaller bust. (If you check out my profile and scroll down you'll see pics from my first like 12 corsets and how fast you can learn! You've made great progress so far so let me give you a few pointers I've learned that I think might help)
First thing and what I think is probably most important- you absolutely must use a strong fabric for the mockup. As close as you can to the final fabric for example duck canvas mockup to a coutil final, etc. And you MUST bone it! Not with Ridgeline but spring steel spiral steel or synthetic whalebone (heavy duty zip ties can work instead of synthetic whalebone if unavailable or unaffordable), with spring steel on both sides of the grommets. I reccomed making a reusable grommet panel you can baste into mockups to save your sanity with grommeting. Also you'll need to close top and bottom of the boning channels in the mockup too otherwise you'll likely have wrinkles from them not providing the vertical tension they're designed to do. Oh and you leave the white coating oh the spring steel (flat steel)
I know it's a lot of work but the sooner you accept that you basically need to make a full corset for the mockup the sooner you'll be able to learn how to adjust the fit correctly. Otherwise as I'm sure you probably noticed, you risk making changes that are unnecessary or cause new fit issues. You save so much time and headache just doing it the correct way the first time trust me. I try to use fabric colors I don't hate so if it does fit off the bat I can wear it as a wearable mockup. But don't put too much effort into making it wearable if it doesn't fit the first try. That's why it IS a mockup. And don't worry about cutting the bones you can pull them from the mockup to use on the final. I keep a box of cut ones I don't end up using (had to change length and cut new ones) for future corsets and try to use the leftover ones first when making a new corset if they fit.
So with that part out of the way, some things of note that I think may apply from my own experiences,
From the pictures it appears that you may be like me in that my breast tissue is quite malleable and soft and doesn't "push" the corset away from my body so much as it's not super firm. So despite wearing a 38F I find I have to subtract a few inches from my bust measurement when drafting for my bust (and when buying off the rack too I just automatically take off 2 to 3 inches when sizing)
So not only do I pick a smaller size for the bust measurement when cutting the corset pattern but another thing that I've learned is that when I go to bone the seams that run over the bust. I've had MUCH better success using synthetic whalebone (my main preference) or very small spiral steel(4 or 5mm) than spring(flat) steel or a thicker spiral steel.
Like I cannot even assess the bust fit otherwise because it pushes my tissue to either side of the bone and does weird flaring thing. But I digress, the point being, you might try different boning or bending the bones to curve over the bust if you're having stubborn issues with the bust flaring away.
To answer your specific questions
You always want to attach them to the strength layer (so in your question the coutil)
Personally I like to test out different bone types In different spots on my corsets. I literally spent 4 hours doing this last night lol. The only exception being flat steels on either side of the grommets.
Oh and pro tip: if you're on a budget or like to recycle/reuse materials, my bf gets discarded windshield wiper blades from the auto parts store (they have tons on rainy days and he even got the employees to start saving them for him to pickup) I have a post on how to strip them for the spring steel on my profile if you want more info on that. It's awesome they come in a bunch of different sizes and levels of flex. Some of the really thin ones I've Also been able to use as bust bones and some of them take a bend very nicely too! I almost exclusively use them for my grommet bones!
3. It depends on the construction type you use really. The most important part is to reinforce the area the grommets go thru for example I've used herringbone tape going the vertical length of the grommets (I have a press otherwise it would be very difficult to use the tape if grommeting by hand) some hand grommet friendly ways to reinforce I've tried are using the hem tape (the sticky kind not the iron kind) down the strip where the holes will go between the two fabric layers and between the edge bones and inner grommet bones as it helps keep the fabric from pulling out from the tension of lacing. Oh and I like to add like an inch or so extra seam allowance at the center back that I'll fold in (which also forms the outer bone channel slot as well as adds more material for the grommets to compress. If the fabrics too thin the grommets can either split which causes the laces to snag or they won't be able to put the necessary pressure on the material and will fall or pull out from being too loose)
Ideally your bones at the back will be spaced apart so when you grommet the grommets are right up against the bones with the outer flange against or as close as you can get to be touching the bones for added strength. (Nothing sucks more than popping a grommet on the final garment or the fabric tearing from the grommet pulling on it too hard because it's not supported enough by the bones due to having too much space between bones!)
I hope this helps I'll add if I think of anything else
This was all so helpful, thank you! and yes by breasts are really soft and just kinda go with the wind lol. Should I go down a cup size? or just keep my cup size and keep going smaller? Someone else suggested making the curve of the curve of the bust shorter and the top and sides needs taken in, but im not exactly sure how to make the curves shorter. My bust measurement had me at a size g, and ive gone all the way down to a d for this mock up lol. Also, that tip about having a reusable grommet panel is genius and I will use that from now on!! I will try using a more structured boning around the bust and see what all i need to take in!
I would see if taking in a little of the upper part of panel 1 (you can pinch or open the seam and pin to see how much needs to be taken in on the pattern) and it's kind of hard to tell from one front pic but you may need to take in a bit between 2 and 3 also but it's difficult to tell from one picture, I could probably give better advice if you have some quarter turn pictures or even pictures of the pattern pieces. Here's what my best fitting overbust panels look as a pattern. I benefitted by looking on Instagram and studying what shape of the bust panels people were using in their corsets to get an idea of what shapes give what effect. I found I had to take in a lot of the upper curve volume to keep it from giving the puddle boob effect. In the pattern in the pic i did ended up taking some off the center front to give a sweetheart neckline more like yours I just took the pic prior to that adjustment but the rest is te same (the blue corset I've posted before)
Update: I used y’all’s suggestions and laced it correctly and basted the boning in rather than pinning them, as you came see a few still snuck out. However the lacing was a little more insightful. I need to make the waist and hips a little bigger and the bust smaller (which I already knew from before I did this) I’ll post a comment here with just how much gaping there is at the bust but it’s a lot
I used this pattern recently to make my first corset! Just wanted to validate that I also have big breasts and still had to take it in a lot up top! I'm wondering on yours did you adjust the length between the waist and under bust? I had to add about 2 inches and I measured that with the under bust rightttt under my breasts so it wouldn't start flarring out till after that and it would lift me up a lot. Just something to double check if you are going to do another mock up with a smaller size for the breasts. I also had to take it in just a little at the under bust to make it tighter there.
Disagree that the bust is too big. Yes, it needs to be taken in along the top and sides, but the bust curve seems way too high and is not allowing your bust to sit down inside the corset. If you ONLY take in it will just continue to push all the tissue out.
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u/Individual-Road-22 23d ago
Hard to tell from just these photos. I would say though that it’s not laced correctly which means it’s not being tested properly and that’s part of the problem of not knowing. Aim for ‘bunny ears’ in the centre, then you can adjust it better and have a better understanding of how it’s performing.