Foundations Revealed

Step by step to creating simple and complex flossing designs: different threads to use, the right needles, basic stitches and making your own decorative, yet functional, flossing designs.

This month we have two questions - one on copyright-free patterns for corsets made for retail and one on proper length of bones.

Brooke, of Dragontown Corsets, has over 10 years of experience in corsetry. A consummate professional who believes in apprenticeship, she was only too happy to spill the beans...

The pattern and a step-by-step guide to make this elegant corset from 1899-1900, including a new seam technique just for corsetry that negotiates curves perfectly and encases all the raw edges neatly.

Jill Salen, author of Corsets: Historical Patterns & Techniques, shares her technique for making corset patterns from the original antique corsets that you can find in museums.

Thomson's Glove fitting corset: we look at the 1898 patent, advertisements, a few extant corsets in collections and work on putting the pieces together to recreate it.