Materials

If you are using my pattern you will need the following materials. For other patterns the number and length of bones may differ, and the busk may also be a different length. I got my supplies for this project from Vena Cava Design. They ship really quickly, and they also stock my book so if you enjoy my tutorial, please consider buying a copy from them along with your supplies!

0.75m x coutil or other strength layer such as broche.

0.75m x fashion fabric e.g silk

5m x 16mm Bone casing (tubular boning tape)

20cm narrow busk

8 x 7mm spiral steel 21cm

4 x 7mm flat steel 21cm

4 x 7mm flat steel 20cm

1 pack x 5mm two piece eyelets

Thread

Optional – temporary spray adhesive (e.g 505 temporary adhesive)

You may be able to get away with 0.5m of the fabric, but I prefer to buy extra in case of mistakes.

I will be using the nude/gold spot broche from Vena Cava, which you can find here and a golden silk taffeta from James Hare.

I really like spot broche because it is extremely strong, it’s easy and forgiving to work with for beginners, and the spots make it really quick and easy to line up the grainline or cut on the bias. It is more expensive than plain coutil, so if you are working on a budget you may prefer to use standard coutil or twill.

For the fashion fabric I’ve chosen silk taffeta because it was a remnant from another project and I thought it looked lovely next to the coutil. This is an unlined corset so it is good to try and pick complementary colours. I recommend using something like dupion or cotton for your first corset. Avoid satin, because that really shows up wrinkles. Avoid Chinese brocades, because they fray a lot. Avoid leather and PVC unless you are already confident with working in them.

I have recommended the 16mm tubular boning tape for boning channels, because they are strong, easy to work with, and save a lot of time - I want this to be a quick and fun project that you can complete in a week so it was the best option. You could also use a herringbone or twill tape, but that doesn’t look as nice on the inside of unlined corsets. If I am working with a material like rosebud coutil, I usually make my boning cases to match from scratch.

While I recommended the 16mm boning tape, I’ll be using the narrower one as the wider one is only in black or white and I wanted to use the nude which matches my fabric.

You need to be more accurate with this one as if your stitching is wonky the casing will end up too narrow to fit the bones into.