So first of all, we are going to start every single post we make about corsets from here on out with this:

If you are in Chicago and looking to make a corset, you can do no better than taking a look at Morua Corestry & Couture.  Gerry Quinton is literally world renowned for corset making.  Seriously.  They aren’t even paying us for that.  You want perfect corsetry instruction? Go. To. Them.  Anyone who tells you they are coming even close to Morua is lying to you and trying to snake your hard earned dollars. Like a thief! Voleur! Voleur! We have been to the mountain and seen the receipts, our friends! 

Havig written that, when we have corset making pop up in class, we’ve found The Basics of Corset Building: A Handbook for Beginners by Linda Sparks to be about the most approachable book on the subject for the intermediate to advanced sewer.

Amazon says of it:

Think of a corset as a blank canvas.

Linda Sparks’ The Basics of Corset Building: A Handbook for Beginners is a comprehensive guide to building your first corset, including:

Section One: Tools and Materials for Corset Building
Discusses the tools you’ll need, plus types of steel, plastic, and textiles.

Section Two: Building a Corset
Everything you need to know about working with bones and busks, setting grommets and eyelets, and creating a beautifully finished corset.

Section Three: Construction Techniques
Covers all the steps, including making a modesty panel, making a mock-up, and building single layer, double layer, and fashion fabric corsets.

Section Four: Alterations and Fit
Discusses commercial corset patterns, as well as how to fit and style a corset for exactly the look you want.

And as a review that is pretty good.  Linda Sparks has written a book that manages to be comprehensive for what the beginner or intermediate corset maker will need.  In just under 80 pages, she manages to walk you through the basic construction and fitting issues that you will come across and introduce you to the tools and supplies you will need.

As a tip from us: If you are making a corset on your own without the supervision of a professional, please – please – make sure you do not skimp on fit.  In the theater and in our regular class life here we’ve seen ill-fitting and over-fitting corsets really abrade and damage the skin.

So buy this book to start to work your way through the process – Linda Sparks started Farthingdales, so you can’t go too far wrong in the instruction here. Such a nice addition to any growing sewing library.

And seriously, try to get into Morua‘s classes.