If you’ve been following my adventures on YouTube or here on the blog, you might have seen my latest project: the Sleeve Crinoline to make the silhouette of my Cycling Sweater more historically accurate. Inspired by a recent survey, I was motivated to dive into making another corset cover, this time in white and rather plain, but with a special detail.
First, I made some adjustments to the pattern: shortened it significantly and deepened the neckline. With my trusty tailor’s chalk in hand, I marked the key points, especially the darts.
After cutting, the journey began, and each piece was sewn together. Admittedly, there were a few small stumbling blocks along the way – somehow, despite my markings, the darts were too narrow, making the corset cover too wide. After taking out some material at this point and re-sewing, it fit almost perfectly.
The sleeves are quite plain and rather small cap sleeves, but in my eyes, they form a pretty silhouette. I noticed that I find it much easier to sew sleeves with gathering than plain ones, as I tend to sew unwanted folds much faster with the latter.
The small special detail for this corset cover are the buttons. I’ve wanted to make thread buttons for a while because they can be incredibly beautiful and individually designed. Essentially, they are small metal rings around which yarn is wrapped, crossing in the middle of the ring. The most well-known version is probably the “Dorset Button”. On the European continent, thread buttons were made slightly differently, and the main difference is that with “Dorset Buttons”, the yarn is first wrapped around the ring and then the spokes are wrapped. With thread buttons, the spokes are wrapped first, and then the ring is wrapped. This results in slightly different designs and patterns. However, for starters, I decided to implement the simplest version of these buttons. It’s wonderfully meditative work, but it does require a steady hand.
To pimp up the corset cover a bit more, I decided to embellish the neckline and sleeves with a narrow lace trim, adding a touch of playfulness to the ensemble. I believe it’s these subtle details that truly bring a garment to life.
Thank you so much for participating in my survey on Instagram and YouTube; your responses motivated me to sew not just that one, but two versions of this corset cover.
MATERIAL USED
- 1,2 m white popeline
- Aluminum rings
- Cotton sewing thread
- Silk sewing thread for the buttons