Busy busy busy...

I've gone a whole week without updating. Bad me.

Here's why:

Yeah, it was time for a new corset and bustle. Both are from Laughing Moon patterns - I was too lazy to scale something up this time.

Things I learned:

-Never bag-line a corset. I'd done it before with no ill-effects, but this time the brocade really needed the strength of the coutil lining to take the stress. It is not coping well.

-Cable ties work great in bustles, but not so great in Victorian corsets - the thickness is a problem when you go to fit something over the corset.

-When cutting out the back stays of the bustle, make sure you cut out the piece that actually goes to the bustle you're making. Don't cut out the wrong one, bone it, grommet it, get confused when the notches don't match, go running to the internet looking for errata or a tutorial, waste hours looking for others who had the same problem, THEN realize what you did and cut it down to the right piece.

-When you're in a hurry and use one side of a grommeted seam to mark the other side... make sure one of them isn't upside down or your grommets will not match up. Thank heaven for spiral lacing - it hides a multitude of sins.

-You can never have too many petticoats under a late 60s/early 70s dress without a hoop. You just can't.

So that being said, it's done, it's cute, I hope it holds my skirts up (I have yet to try everything on together), and I'm determinedly not touching another Victorian dress for at least 2 weeks.

In other news, 6 panels out of 8 done on my stays, and I taught myself to make thread loops for metal hooks today, courtesy of this wonderful tutorial. Remarkably painless, and I feel at least slightly accomplished.

See you all at the ball!