A handbook for beginners in the art of corset building. Written for people with basic sewing skills.

Think of a corset as a blank canvas. Linda Sparks' The Basics of Corset Building: A Handbook for Beginners is a comprehensive guide to building your first corset, including: Section One: Tools and Materials for Corset Building Discusses the tools you'll need, plus types of steel, plastic, and textiles. Section Two: Building a Corset Everything you need to know about working with bones and busks, setting grommets and eyelets, and creating a beautifully finished corset. Section Three: Construction Techniques Covers all the steps, including making a modesty panel, making a mock-up, and building single layer, double layer, and fashion fabric corsets. Section Four: Alterations and Fit Discusses commercial corset patterns, as well as how to fit and style a corset for exactly the look you want.

Starting with the early years of Victoria's reign, this practical book examines the developments and evolution of fashionable dress as it progressed throughout her six decades as queen. From the demure styles of the 1840s to the exaggerated sleeves of the 1890s, it explores the ever-changing Victorian silhouette, and gives patterns, instructions and advice so that the amateur dressmaker can create their own versions of these historic outfits. Contents include: information on tools and equipment; a guide to transferring pattern pieces; a concise guide to the various layers of Victorian underwear; and step-by-step instructions with colour photographs to help construct the patterns and advice on how to personalize each outfit. Illustrations of fashion plates, Victorian carte de visite photographs and original surviving garments provide visual inspiration and reference. There are seven main project chapters, each starting with an overview of the main fashions characteristic to that style of dress, and giving patterns, instructions and advice to enable the amateur dressmaker to create their own versions of these historic outfits. With 309 beautiful colour photographs including illustrations of fashion plates and Victorian carte de visite photographs, this will be an invaluable resource for the dressmaker.

In this second volume of Stays and Corsets, Mandy Barrington continues to create historical patterns for a modern body shape. This book contains all new corset patterns with a range of silhouettes that span over 300 years, from the late 16th century to the early 20th century. The corset patterns are generated from an original historical garment and have been designed for a wide range of female figures and sizes. The technique of flat pattern drafting your stays or corset will enable you to change the shape of the wearer to create an authentic historic silhouette. All calculations have been worked out for the reader and are provided in easy-to-read tables, which avoids extremely difficult, time-consuming and inaccurate re-sizing of historical patterns. Some prior knowledge of pattern drafting is helpful; however, each pattern has step-by-step instructions supported by clear diagrams that will take you through each stage of the pattern drafting process. The final result is an accurate period stays or corset pattern for your model.