Foundations Revealed

Flo guides us through the process of drafting a simple border lace overlay for the top half of an underbust corset.

Sabrina tackles the challenge of making a 1908 Corset, a transitional year between the S-curve era and the straight-line Teens era corsets.

Flo discusses the process for choosing and applying embellishments to your new lace corset.

Kelly outlines the process of recreating this low-busted early 20th century corset from the original 1913 patent and pattern through to flossing and garters.

Jennifer guides us through drafting, fitting and decorating a vintage Edwardian-style princess slip; a useful item of underwear in any lady's trousseau!

The first in a series of articles on bra patterning and making. Before we get out the fabric, there's a big obstacle to tackle: what size bra do you want?

Silhouette is important for vintage as well as historical clothing: make an authentic pointy bra that Jane Russell or Marilyn Monroe would have been proud of.

British corsetmaker Charlotte Raine shares her experiences of obtaining photography for her business - obstacles overcome, and lessons learned.

Marta breaks with tradition from her usual leather corsetry to make a beautiful corded corset and discuss some pattern modifications therein.

Jenni begins her discussion of silhouette, including personal preference and inspiration.

Today many burlesque performers commission pasties (small nipple covers) to match their costumes, so the ability to make them is a valuable commodity for a corsetmaker.

Jenni continues on silhouette and fitting a house style on different body shapes, plus its relationship to your corsetry business and brand identity as a whole.

Kelly guides us through making a corset cover that would be suitable for wearing with eveningwear in 1913.

Part 2 of our bra pattern drafting and making series: drafting the blocks for the cups, cradle and wings of a simple underwired “Darted Cup” Bra. 

Mark shares with us the secrets of working with stretchy powernet, and shows how to make a vintage corselette of the 1950s or 60s.

Jenni constructs a simple Broche corset to help explore and understand the six rules of good corsetry.

Part 3 of our bra pattern drafting/making series. You have taken measurements and drafted a pattern - now it's time to break out the sewing kit!

Mark takes the basic corselet further by adding shaping or control panels to it. He also shows how to adapt the corselet blocks to make other foundation garments.

When corsets dipped below the bust in the early 1900s, what did women use to support the bust? How did bras develop into a must-have garment?

Leather is considered to be one of the most difficult materials to work with, but it doesn't have to be. Marta shows us a few simple ways to make it easy.