Corset Lining

Just a quick couple of notes on the corset lining:

 

Everyone who makes corsets, it seems, has a different technique.  My pieces are numbered (center front to center back, 1-6), and I mark the top of each piece with notches equalling it's pattern piece number.  Since the pieces are very similar to eachother, this keeps me from mixing them up, and it also keeps me from sewing in one of the pieces upside down. 

 

 

I also put a little notch at the waistline, to make sure that I'm lining them up correctly - not so much an issue if I'm making the same pattern as the original, but if I've done any modifications to the top or bottom line, it helps keep things square, so to speak. 

 

 

 

I use cotton duck for the lining, and I don't generally use a coutil layer.  The duck is strong enough, generally, given the use the corset will be getting.  If I'm using a particularly delicate fashion fabric, I'll line it with something with a little more heft - but usually just whatever I have laying around.  I'm not wearing this thing, daily, as underwear - I'm generally wearing it for a few hours at a time as a costume.  The cotton duck holds up just fine under the stress I put on my corsets.

 

Also, I use black cotton duck for a lot of things.  So, when there's that rare 60% off coupon at JoAnn, I buy a whole bolt of the stuff. 

 

Next step for me is to sew together the lining into two front panels and two back panels.  I iron the seam allowances flat.  Then, I stitch on channels for the boning - I use extra wide single fold bias tape.  It's the perfect size for the 1/2" steel boning I prefer.

 

The lady at the fabric store asked why I would purchase bias tape when it's so easy to make it yourself.  Why would I spend the time making it myself when it's just $2 for a package?

 

I don't put channels in the back along where the grommets go - those will be just the layers of the corset stitched together to create channels on both sides of the grommets. 

 

My order has shipped - from Philadelphia.  It should arrive during the week, and then I can get this thing wrapped up.  Today I think I'll get the outside done, so it's all ready for the hardware when it arrives.