How to Make a Corset from Scratch Part 1: Draping 

I totally agree @dpcaw!! Can we have a video, Zoe? Also, thank you for these amazing videos @zoehongteaches!

You’re welcome!

I understand the confusion. I changed my mind about that grainline while draping another panel but I didn't change it. (I shouldn't have said anything.) I'm thinking about changing it when I transfer to paper and make a toile. I'll address it when I'm doing the pattern. The reason I want to change is because the direction of tension is across the width of the corset, as it's pulled tight and laced, so the strength should be vertical and horizontal (the grain and the cross grain) to support that. Draping the way I did makes it pull across like a bias, which is stretchier.

Gotcha!! Thank you!

hahahahaha Zoe-ception

Thank you and you're welcome!

You're welcome!

Thanks!

You're welcome!

You're welcome!

You're welcome!

Thank you!

I don't know much about shoemaking but generally speaking, shoes are typically built to retain its shape when unworn. Clothes are not built like that, the materials we use for clothes are much thinner, softer, made to fold and put away, made to drape. We need our clothes to move a lot more than the basic hinge of a shoe, even a corset. Garment weight leathers are tanned to be much softer than leathers used for shoes and many accessories. We do not mold fabric to fit the shapes of a body, we cut flat shapes and use seams to curve around the body. This allows for alterations and tailoring also. "Easier" is subjective.

@@zoehongteaches, thank you for your response, Zoe. I appreciate your viewpoint. It keeps reminding me how others see shoes: as stiff objects with hinges. It's something that for me sounds quite alien. For a well-made pair of (handsewn) shoes is closer to a masterpiece in kinetics rather than a a medical cast. Our feet- with 33 joints, 26 bones, and more than a hundred muscles, tendons, and ligaments that all work together- are the most articulated part of the human body. And our shoes should reflect that. That's why I more often than not work with the finest goatskin nappa, brain-tanned buckskin, even kangaroo hides (which happen to be finer and more pliable than most fabrics on the market). Commercial, stiff and unsightly, aka regular shoes are made to fit the machines (that created them) rather than human needs. The factory makes its profit...and the people hobble around the streets in their rigid casts and dream about "the perfect pair" of shoes that is 100% comfortable and does not give them bunions/ plantar fasciitis/ hip and back problems. I strongly believe that shoes can be made without man-made counters, metal shanks and 3 layers of the heaviest veg tan soling. Shoes are- by the very nature of the human anatomy- supposed to be more flexible than any other piece of clothing. More flexible than corsets even. Hence lasting (on a custom last) seems preferable to draping muslin.

You’re welcome!

I would drape the peplum after I finished draping the corset pieces. If I was doing a shirred ruffle, I would probably make the ruffle out of muslin, pin it to the rest of the corset drape. If I want the corset to be long and skirt-like towards the bottom, without a horizontal seam, I could drape the whole piece or add length and fullness to the pattern.

@@zoehongteaches That makes sense. Thank you!

If you want to really become a good fashion illustrator, yes, start with figure drawing. I have a figure drawing class on my patreon, or you can take a model drawing class local to you. Then learn how to draw clothes on figures. If you only want to learn some basic sketching so you can communicate your fashion designs, just buy some figure templates and jump to drawing clothes. I also have a drawing clothes on bodies class on Patreon and I have assorted videos here on the channel.

@@zoehongteaches thank you so much ♥️ I was so confuse 🥺 lots of love ♥️♥️✨.

Yes. calendly.com/zoe-hong

Watch your tone *smacks desk with my ruler (hahaha~)

Posted today!