JAA Post Hand-in Pictures

Here are some quick snaps of the dress after hand-in. In the new year I will have it photographed professionally once the buttons are on, ready for entry into the competition.

Ballet (nearly) Blanc

So whilst I'm on a roll here are the rest of the shots of the completed Self Directed Project aka' learning to make the pretties'.

There are infact a few petals still pinned rather than sewn down to the costume, and once again, stuck with a camera/backdrop/ lack of decent lighting that does not show the costume off to its full potential.

Even so, I have taken quite a few shots from different angles as well as taking some snaps of my decoration and sleeve samples.

Just a few photos!

I cant wait to get on and make up another bodice(draft a whole new pattern) and make some variations using different materials and shapes for the skirt.


My first challenge will be something like the wood nymph-y costumes seen here in a version of Sleeping Beauty. I just love them and any excuse to work in green.

Tease me, tease me, tease me baby...

Okay I'm going to wear out that  word long before I have finised talking about the Once Upon A Tease corsets.

We are actually finished. I have been so busy with the end of the academic year and this project for the last few weeks that I have neglected to post.

After a lot of hard work and some last minute changes to design decorations, the corsets were fnally finished and handed over for the professional shoot.

I didn't quite finish all the beading on mine and so one of the girls kindly completed it for me. It was hard to let go as I can be overly precious of my work(a perfectionist even) and so battled with my inner self by letting someone finish off my work. But this is a live project and as such there are deadlines to meet. Which means you do what you need to get done.

Overall the corsets looked really good and I'm so proud of the dedication and tenacity we showed as a group, through all the stages from the designing to the construction, budgeting, accessories and decoration and supervising of the project.

We have been accredited by the group and will recieve free tickets to the show as well as recieving copies of the professional photos for our portfolios.

I was really pleased that I was responsible for the patterns and supervising the adjustments that the girls made for them taking them through any problems. I certainly feel that I have come such a long way in this area in a year and my own challenging pattern worked very well- I have some photos of it being modelled by Melissa, who is not the intended body for the corset, but it fitted her well nonetheless.

Here are some more photos and I will post the professional shots once we recieve them.


The first few are photos from the fitting, I was not actually present, so one of the girls marked the alterations for me.

Melissa kindly modelling, it is not quite finished here, missing the back leg ruffles, gartes and additional beading, also the is some binding to finish off at he back by the laces.

(needs an iron!)

As I mentioned, I handed over to Kim to complete the beading, here is a picture she took of the corset tied onto a pillow. It gives some idea of the final piece, but hopefully there will be a better portfolio shot from the professional photos.

Corsets Photographed

Whilst I am busy at Uni I still have more than one or two ongoing projects to keep my hands busy.
I will admit to having a bit of a shopping spree of late. This spree involved the purchase of another tailors dummy- this time vintage but fully able to use for draping and much closer to my size which means I have been able to get some better photos of some of my corsets- still not as good as having a professional shoot, but that will come as soon as I can get round to organising it.

Next was a truly indulgent purchase of a second hand industrial 4 thread overlocker with ruffler, its not here yet, but I'm hoping it will be this week. This is something I will need for my own business so it was only a matter of time before I needed one, I cant wait to have one at home it will make several things so much easier to accomplish.

Anyway, without further ado some more corset for perusal.

The first one is based on a pattern of a 1798 pair of jumps from Jill Salens Corsets book. I drafted from scratch to my measurements and made a mock up first. It has a light amount of boning in it and squashes the breasts upwards to give s the slightly less severe silhouette at the end of the period. I have stuck close to the original materials, using a pure silk taffeta- which was lovely to work with, interlined with cotton drill and lined in pure linen. The boning casing are cotton drill and silk dupion and all the ends of the lacing are finished with gold coloured aglets. I have also made a black chemise made of cheesecloth and edged with cotton lace and broiderie anglaise threaded with the apricot ribbon(not pictured) and plan to finish the costume with a cartridge pleated skirt made from some lovely Liberty wool in burnt orange and a bum roll for shape, but have not had the time to make it up yet.

While the mannequin is not bad because it is so rigid you don not get the correct effect at the cleavage, but this gives some idea.



Next up is the 1911 long line Titanic era corset. This was done as part of a sew along and entered into a competition- it unfortunately did not win but there were so many beautiful corsets on display. It is constructed from a single layer of fabric with a waist tape and applied bone casings to the inside as the corset would have been made back in its original time. However the fabric cotton backed satin I used, although a good quality fabric did not quite stand up to the one layer so is not really thick enough. Next time I make a corset from this era in one layer I will be using some coutil or spot broche. The long slimming line of the corset is flattering but the aim is not to have a really small waist at this time compared to the rest of the body. Next time I would either shorten the length slightly as it was a bit too long or lengthen it to make a corset dress perhaps.

The corset will pull down nicely at the sides once the garters are attached to some stockings!


I have still yet to photograph the two metallic corsets I was making last month. They were both finished and worn and most importantly enjoyed and admired.
I hope to get them up this week but once again the mannequin is not really doing them there full justice, and neither am I.
So definitely need to find a willing photographer..


As usual more photos of these corsets can be found on my facebok page:
https://www.facebook.com/#!/IllustriousCreationsCostumeCompany