The Scale Mail Corset: Completed Mock-Up & Deciding on a Construction Technique

So, tonight I finished my mock-up! It fits pretty well. I guess doing all the "grunt work with calculations paid off in spades, because it looks pretty darn good.


I was going to be lazy and forego setting the grommets, but I decided to go ahead and do it anyways so I could get an accurate idea of how it would lace up. The next time I make a corset, though, I'm going to use lacing tape. Most makers temporarily install it with two rows of stitching and then rip it out.

To fuse or not to fuse: that is the question

Some of my previous corsets were made with fusibles for the strength layer. The issue with this is they always seem to develop minute wrinkles as soon as any tension is put on it. This live journal post from the corsetry group corroborated this issue.

This is what I don't want happening to my dupioni! A shame, the corset is a nice color and shape.

Sumptuous silk corset by Colleen Green--look at those wrinkle-free panels!

I asked for some advice on the corsetry group and got the following suggested construction method from the maker of this beautiful corset: Dupioni fused to twill for floating outer layer. 1 layer of coutil with twill tape used for bone channels (2 at each seam) and then a floating lining

This method is pretty much what Scarlett recommends, with the addition of the fused outer layer. I'm not sure I want to mess with fusing--that's the problem.

Corset by Evening Arwen-much simpler, fusible-free technique

On the other hand, this corset seems to be made in a perfectly serviceable way using a simpler technique: "The outer Lavender fabric is silk dupioni. Inside is material specifically for corsets called coutil. The fashion fabric has been flatlined to the coutil to give it a lot of strength. "

Corroborating this method is the owner of Redthreaded (her work quality truly speaks for itself….truly incredible stuff!)
"Personally I have had no issue with using dupioni as a fashion layer flatlined directly to the coutil, with casings stitched through. I do work in a bit of roll pinning while flatlining to help take the strain of the dupioni and account for turn-of-cloth. (I don't fuse)."

The trade-off is that this corset has visible outer seam lines. However, I know I could roll-pin the dupioni to coutil and get a good outcome. I will also be using the dupioni on its strongest side--horizontally! Vertical dupioni is pretty but not nearly as strong (from prior experience, confirmed by others too).

My original plan with this corset was to make it simply, precisely and as strong as possible….so I'm leaning more towards a fusion of Scarlett's method and the ones cited directly above. If the cupid corset didn't have such prominent seam lines and clear bone casings I'd probably do the other method minus the fusing, but this seems to be the best idea. The bone casings are made of coutil too, so there will be 2 good layers of fabric encasing the bones and the floating lining to prevent wear-through and friction.

Bonus: I remembered that the scales will be covering the front panels, so any slight "wonkiness" I may encounter with wrinkling will be dealt with and I can further troubleshoot next time.

Onwards we go! The Silk Baron fabric has shipped and should be here hopefully by Friday.