Striped Corset

Tighten Up!
Ah, this corset looks more impressive then it actually is!

This is a reconstructed corset. Once upon a time, it was a purple overbust corset a friend crafted for me for a costume. But alas, he totally got my measurements wrong, and so I only wore the entire costume once before stashing it all away.
Eventually I decided I wanted to try and re-cover it, and that's exactly what I did! I cut off the bust section, and used some woven brocades to re-cover the whole thing for my first steampunk costume several years ago. Badass it was.
I decided to re-cover it once more, and did so for my outfit I wore to The Edwardian Ball last month in San Francisco. I took more time and put more effort into it, and I think it turned out amazing!
There are, of course, many flaws- I simply took pieces of fabric and sewed them on then flipped the ends over the top and bottom, so there are oodles of raw edges inside. Because I had to cover the back lacing, I had to create another way to do the lacing, so I chose D-Rings sewn on with tabs, which is a great and awesome idea, I just didn't execute it very well (so now it's coming apart).
The trimmings took FOR-EV-ER! The sparkly trim along the stays was fine, but at the edges I used a thick braided trim which had no interest in being sewn on by machine, so I had to do much of that by hand. I also got the notion that it needed a bit more pizazz, so I hand sewed a sparkly beaded trim over that.
But, the final product is pretty amazing, so all it's flaws and all my blood and tears were worth it!

However, I am now totally inspired to actually learn how to properly make corsets... Hello, 2011 goal!