Sewing your Elizabethan Corset together

How to Sew it all Together

What you need:

A pattern
The corset material
The lining material, if you're using a fancy fabric for your corset
16 grommets (unless you're poking holes and binding them with thread)
2 yards of lacing--satin ribbon, shoelacing, whatever. 2 yards may seem long, but it makes it easier to get into the corset by yourself.
2.5 yards of 1-inch-wide ribbon of your choice (for variations 1 & 2).
A busk
boning

There are three different variations on the basic corset that you can make using the Pattern you have created, both with straps and strapless. They are listed in order of difficulty. Click on the corset for instructions on how to make it in both the strapped and strapless versions. If you're making a corset with rigilene boning and are worried about creasing and wrinkling, use the Fan-shaped boning pattern mentioned under RIGILENE/FEATHER BONING.

This is the simplest of the corsets. It has no tabs, and is bound around the edges with ribbon.

This tabbed corset is slightly more advanced than the one without tabs. Tabs were used in elizabethan times to keep the farthingale and skirt from slipping down from the waist. This corset pattern is also bound around the edges with ribbon.

This corset has boned tabs, in which the boning doesn't stop at the waist but continues on into the tabs. If you have problems with corsets pinching into your waist, this design will alleviate that, guaranteed. It is the most comfortable corset pattern I've found. This design is more time-consuming then the first two, but the directions for putting it together are authentic to the 16th century.

Previous Step: Corset Patterns | Next Step: Wearing your Corset

Home

	This is the simplest of the corsets. It has no tabs, and is bound around the edges with ribbon.
	This tabbed corset is slightly more advanced than the one without tabs. Tabs were used in elizabethan times to keep the farthingale and skirt from slipping down from the waist. This corset pattern is also bound around the edges with ribbon.
	This corset has boned tabs, in which the boning doesn't stop at the waist but continues on into the tabs. If you have problems with corsets pinching into your waist, this design will alleviate that, guaranteed. It is the most comfortable corset pattern I've found. This design is more time-consuming then the first two, but the directions for putting it together are authentic to the 16th century.