All posts tagged: boning

Ninon’s dress: boning the bodice

Published by The Dreamstress

Making a mid 17th century dress is interesting – the bodice is fully boned, so it’s basically a corset with sleeves.  I guess it saves making a corset to go under the outfit 😀 Anyway, this means I had to make an inner boning layer, and figure out a boning pattern to present the right 17th century torso silhouette. For my inner boning layers, I used a fairly rough unbleached linen that I found 4 metres of at an op shop for $5.  This really has been a fortunate dress! For boning, I’m using 3/8″ black plastic cable ties.  Not exactly whalebone, but no-one is offering me a piece of the poor whale that beached itself locally over the weekend (not that I’m really sure I’d take it if they did! And do humpback whales even have the right kind of baleen for boning?) I started researching my boning patterns using two sources: the German bodice, and Norah Waughs 1660s jacket bodice.  Unfortunately, neither was a completely satisfactory guide.   The German bodice pattern was …

I don’t paint my nails, I paint my bones

Published by The Dreamstress

Really.  See: Yep.  I finish those nasty sharp cut edges on my spring steel corset bones with nail polish.  I find that it’s a lot easier to use then the ‘official’ boning dip (for one thing, it dries in a few minutes, not overnight!), and it is cheaper, and easier to source.  It also works better – rounding the edges without leaving big bumpy drips. Besides, I love knowing that there is a little secret bit of pink sparkly hiding in my corsets 😀 To soften the sharp cut edges, I give them three or four coats of varnish.  Then, for a final bit of protection, I dip them in glue.  Works perfectly, even when you dryclean your corset. Tomorrow I’ll show you the corset these bones were used in.