Draft your own

corset

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© 2007 Your Wardrobe Unlock’d

We’ll begin as we did before, with a vertical line down the left hand side of the
paper. Place it about (5cm) 2” from the edge.

Mark point 1 on the line, 5cm (2”) from the top of the paper.

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Mark point A on the line below 1.
The distance from 1 to A is the same as the biggest of your “waist to top”
measurements – or the same as your bust to waist measurement, if this is
bigger than all three of them.

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“Square across” from A. (Extend a line out from A at right angles to the line 1-A.)

You can mark this line as the waistline, and the vertical line as the centre front.

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Mark point B. The distance from A to B is half of your front bust measurement.

Square up and down from B.

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Mark point C. The distance from B to C is your half of your back hip measurement, minus
2.5cm (1”).
So if your back hip is 80cm, halve this to get 40cm and then take another 2.5cm to leave you
with 37.5cm.
Square up and down from C, and label this line “centre back”. (This pattern does result in a
2” gap at the back, however.)
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Mark point D, where A to D is your underbust to waist measurement.
Square across from D.

(Note: This line will be helpful if you want to adapt this pattern to become an underbust corset later.)

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Mark E and F on the line you’ve just drawn out from D, where it crosses the two
other vertical lines.

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Then mark G, below A. A to G is your waist to hip measurement.

Square across from G.

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Mark H and J on the hip line (the line you’ve just squared out from G).

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Mark point K on the centre front line. From A up to K is your bust to
waist measurement.

Square across from K.

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Mark points L and M where this new line crosses the two vertical ones.

This is a good time to check that your angles really are right angles: is the line A-
K the same length as C-M? What about A-G and J-C? G-J and K-M?

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Mark point N on the waist line, using your calculator to find the length of B to N:

[your back hip measurement] x 0.18

Square up and down from N.

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Mark points P, Q and R as shown on the vertical line you’ve just drawn.

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Mark point S on the waist line, using your calculator to find the length of B to S:

[your front bust measurement] x 0.14

Square up and down from S.

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Mark points T, U and V as shown on the vertical line you’ve just drawn.

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 jxÄÄ wÉÇx4
You’ve got the framework of the pattern in place.
Now we’ll begin to draw the pattern pieces.

Keep going, you’re doing great…

Mark point a on the top right, as shown. The distance from M to a is

[back bust measurement] x 0.22

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Mark b and c in the same way.
C to b is [your desired waist measurement] x 0.12
J to c is [back hip] x 0.19

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Join a to b to c as shown.

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Mark d and e as shown.
P to d is [back bust] x 0.06
N to e is [desired waist] x 0.04

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Join d to e to c as shown.

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Mark f, g and h as shown.
P to f is [back bust] x 0.09
N to g is [desired waist] x 0.04
R to h is [back hip] x 0.1
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Join f to g to h as shown.

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Mark j and k as shown.
L to j is [back bust] x 0.06
B to k is [desired waist] x 0.04

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Join j to k to h as shown.

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Mark l, m and n as shown.
L to l is [front bust] x 0.07
B to m is [desired waist] x 0.04
H to n is [front hip] x 0.12
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Join l to m to n as shown.

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Mark p and q as shown.
S to p is [desired waist] x 0.03
V to q is [front hip] x 0.1
You may find that q falls between n and H – this is fine, you haven’t got it wrong.

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Join l to p to q as shown. The line p-q may cross the line m-n on your pattern – this
is fine, you haven’t gone wrong.

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If I scribble on the diagram like this for a moment, you can see the pieces of your pattern
forming. You can see the crude outlines of the back, side back and side pieces, and the
right hand half of the side front piece. Now we need to make the bust curve, which
depends a lot on size!
If you’re a cup size C or less, carry on to the next page. If you’re above a C, go straight to
page XX.
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Cup size C or less: mark points r, s, t, u and v.
r is halfway between K and T.
A to u and S to s are both [desired waist] x 0.08
G to v and V to t are both [front hip] x 0.13

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Join u to v and s to t with straight lines as shown.

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Join r to u and r to s with smooth curves as shown – they’ll need to be exact mirror images
of each other.

Hint: When you’ve got one curve right, trace the curve, turn the tracing paper over and draw
over your tracing to mark the paper and make the other half identical. Add a couple of
notches before you trace to help you sew this seam together later, and transfer them too.

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Cup size D or more: Mark W, halfway between A and S.

Square up and down from W.

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Mark points X and Y on this new line, as shown.

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Mark r and s with small crosses. The distance from X to r is

[front bust] x 0.06

The distance from X to s is the same.

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Mark t and u with small crosses. The distance from W to t is

[desired waist] x 0.03

The distance from W to u is the same.

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Mark v and w with small crosses. The distance from A to v is

[desired waist] x 0.06

The distance from S to w is the same.

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Mark x and y with small crosses. The distance from Y to x is

[front hip] x 0.04

The distance from Y to y is the same. Join t to x and u to y as shown.

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Mark z and @ with small crosses. The distance from G to z is

[front hip] x 0.09

The distance from V to @ is the same. Join v to z and w to @ as shown.

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Join r to v and r to t with smooth curves as shown – they’ll need to be exact mirror images of
each other. Then do the same for s to u and s to w.

Hint: When you’ve got one curve right, trace the curve, turn the tracing paper over and draw
over your tracing to mark the paper and make the other half identical. Add a couple of
notches before you trace to help you sew this seam together later, and transfer them too.

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You’ve now got one of two versions of the pattern – either a modestly busted version with
five pieces or a more generously busted version with six, where the curve of the bust is
spread over two seams.

Fitting every shape of bust perfectly is difficult to do in one simple set of instructions, so I
don’t expect every pattern made with these instructions to produce a mock-up that perfectly
fits first time in the bust area. At mock-up stage you’ll be able to begin experimenting by
pinning and adjusting the shape over your own body. You may need to take a little in; you
may need to add a little.

For now, rather than adding complex mathematics, I’ve kept these main instructions simple,
and I invite you to learn by experimentation how to perfect the fit for your figure in this
area.

From here on, I’ll carry on using the diagrams for the larger bust; more modestly blessed
corsetmakers may simply ignore the extra piece (second from the left)!

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Now we can think about the top and bottom edges of the corset.
Along the centre back line (on the far right), mark points 1 and 2 (seen here in
pink). C to 1 is your “waist to top edge of corset at back” measurement and C
to 2 is your “waist to bottom edge of corset at back” measurement.

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Do the same on the centre front line, making A to 3 your “waist to top edge at centre front”
and A to 4 your “waist to bottom edge at centre front”.
Then you can do the same for the side, on the line L-H, marking 5 and 6 above and below
the waist point B on that line, wherever your “waist to top and bottom at side”
measurements dictate.

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We can also mark the “lap” – there’s a point at the side front where the corset
shouldn’t come down too low, allowing you to sit down comfortably.
For the larger busted (above left), W to 7 is your lap measurement.
For the smaller busted (above right), u to 7a and s to 7b are both your lap
measurement.

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We can also measure exactly the level over your bust seam. For larger busts, W up
to 8 is your apex to waist measurement.
For smaller busts, turn your tape measure on its edge and measure along the curve
u-r. From u to 8 is your apex to waist measurement.

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If you’re larger busted, you can use your tape measure in the same way to measure
along the curve from t through r and u through s to find 9a and 9b.
t to 9a and u to 9b are both your apex to waist measurement.
You may need to extend these lines by squaring up from r and s.

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Now you can draw in the top and bottom edge curves, using the numbered points as a guide,
extending the seam lines where you need to (eg at d and G).
Keep in mind that when you make the corset, the pieces will have to fit together to form a
smooth curve – measuring from the waist line to the edge on each piece will help you to
make them match at the seams.
Don’t worry too much about this, however. You’ll be able to perfect the edges by drawing
on the mock-up.
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Those severe corners at the waist aren’t going to work very well in the finished corset, so
one last detail is to smooth them out. Make sure that the line still goes through the cross
you marked.
Hint: start with a short straight line through the cross and make it gradually veer towards the
original seam line on both sides.

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 jxÄÄ wÉÇx4
You’re all done drafting this pattern!

Now read on to find out the next step…

Even though we’ve used your unique measurements to draft the pattern, we still
cannot guarantee that this pattern will fit perfectly first time.

The few measurements we’ve used don’t give a complete picture of your body
shape. So before you can use your draft as a failsafe basic pattern you’ll need to
cut out and sew together an inexpensive “mock-up” trial run to have any chance of
perfecting your personal corset pattern.

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`t~|Çz à{x wÜtyà |ÇàÉ t ÑtààxÜÇ
Trace the pieces onto new sheets of pattern paper, including notches and marking the waist points on each
side of each piece. Add your preferred seam allowance around the edges. A border of between 1-1.5cm
(3/8”-5/8”) is usual.

You need to do this because you’ll want to adjust your draft and keep it to refer to again next time you
make a corset. Keeping your draft complete and uncut is vital.

Use your traced pattern pieces to make the block into a mock-up garment using scraps of coutil, drill or
canvas. Sew on some hook and eye tape at the centre back edges for a quick lacing solution, insert your
busk in the front and apply the bones as usual.

Make adjustments as you wish - fitting is a BIG subject that we’ll address another day!

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I would love to hear your comments and hear about any issues or questions you have at
projects@yourwardrobeunlockd.com!

Do please drop us an email and let me know how your pattern came out, so that we can
discuss ways to improve and refine it. Also, do let me know whether I should make any part
of the process slower or simpler!

Well done and best wishes,

Cathy Hay

December 2007

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