Here are some tools which I consider to be quite essential in the construction of corsets. If you do not already have some of these tools, I do recommend them as they will make the job much easier.
Glass head pins are useful in corsetry just incase you accidentaly sew one into a seam! With a glass head, it can be smashed and the point bit retreived easily without ruining all your hard work! These pins come in a lovely little tin box with sliding lid and window in the back.
This tailors awl is the best I can find for corset making because the end is widely tapered which means that you can poke through your fabric, a varying width of hole - up to about 6-7mm, depending on what you are making the hole for, whether it be the busk or grommets etc.,
This awl is extremely sharp. It will not tear your fabric - it works by moving the fibres apart, thus creating a nice 'seal' around grommets and hooks. See the hints and tips page for further info.
Extra sharp needles which are very useful for corsetry. They will sew through several layers of very densly woven fabric and give a nice top stitch at the same time. This pack comes with a variety of sizes.
This is essential for any holes you make in your fabric for grommets and busk insertion. It is a very runny fabric glue which will seal any frayable edges so that they do not unravel. This is also useful for the cut ends of ribbon.
A tracing wheel and dressmakers carbon paper is essential for marking out your boning channels. See the hints and tips page for instructions.
This is used in conjunction with the tracing wheel above for marking out bone chanels and grommet holes.
Sold by the metre - folded. This is useful for scaling up patterns from books and other historical sources.
One of each of the following as listed above:
Pack glass head pins
Tailors Awl
Pack of Sharp Needles
Fray Stoppa
1 Tracing Wheel
Pack of Carbon Paper
Offered with a small discount on the total combined price of all the individual items.
This amazing little gadget will enable you to make your own bias trim from any fabric you like! Especially handy if you want to trim your corset with the same fabric that it's made from. This will make trim which is 25mm wide. Full instructions are on the box.
If you were to quilt a corset panel, in a medieval 'Romeo and Juliet' style for example, you wouldn't want to draw lines all over your lovely fabric with chalk or even biro! This tape will do the job for you. I would de-tack it a little bit by sticking it on my jeans first - Linda Barker used to do this in "Changing Rooms" on the TV before masking off a wall. It's a trick I employ often. The other way to quilt would be using a quilting arm, but not alot of people have those.
