Corset Time: Fitting

Grommets set, fitting done, boning inserted. Total time spent to this point was 8:45.

We don't have the kickass grommet machine yet so we have to do all the grommeting by hand. The grommet punch that comes in a grommet kit sucks.  I'm sure it would be great at cutting through a single layer of banner plastic, but it's miserable at trying to cut through coutil (much less the layers of fabrics behind the coutil in a corset). No matter how long I would hammer on that miserable little die, it would not cut through the fabric. I now use the die to indent the fabric (from the inside) so I know where the hole will be. I take a pair of fingernail scissors or sturdy nippers and clip out the fabric inside the hole. It takes a lot less time and frustration. Andrew set the grommets for me because he's stronger and faster at it. He's a bit better at swinging a hammer.

I dropped a couple bones in the back of the corset and laced it up with some spare ribbon for the fitting. You can see how it looks with no extra boning and no extra support. I was satisfied with the fit, so I measured the boning channels and had Andrew cut my boning. (I'm including his work time in my estimate.) I'm wiggly so I used spiral boning everywhere but center back. He clipped and buffed the edges of the bones, then dipped them so they wouldn't poke me.

I believe in getting as much of the soft work done as possible before dropping in the bones. The corset is harder to move around on the sewing machine once the bones are in place. I machine stitched the bias tape on the shell of the corset around the bottom before putting in the bones for completion.