I wasn't sure how commercial the petal corset would be in terms of a commercial pattern so I've spent the last week making it up again but with a rounded/smoothed out  top-line;

It's always good to make it in a slighlty different way I find - my patterns have huge amounts of notes and information and I want the maker to be able to make it up in the esiest way possible, so a lot of testing goes into it. I think this is probably going to be the longest I have spent on a design in fact - it's coming up to 2 months....

With this version I partially bagged out the heart front to achieve a decent point at the CF - this section comprises 2 panels and 2 darts. The 3 diagonal side panels are also bagged out - so each side is sewn to it's facing and then flipped to the right side - the seam allowance on the CF side is turned under and then top-stitched to the front section. The third section comprises the bottom section of the CF, a lower mid panel and the centre back containing the eyelets. This was also topstitched to the other two sections. Little gaps in the top-stitching allowed for the bones to be inserted once double channels had sewn the outer and inner layers together.  Seams were pressed to the back on the outer layer and the front on the inner layer to reduce bulk at the seams. The centre back panel was mirrored at the CB so self-faced, and a short liner was hand sewn to the non-lined bottom section. The seam allowance at the top of the centre back was folded under as was the entire bottom seam of the corset, so no binding!

Happy valentines day!

The second corset is much better designed and made but after putting it to the poll on my Facebook page it was almost unanimous - people preferred the plum one. It had taken me  ages to dye the fabric to the different shades so it's probably a good thing. Here are 2 of the pics I entered showing the front and back;

There are always little tweaks and things I would do differently if I had known better at the time. I can work on designs for literally 100's of hours - knowing when to stop is something I'm not great at - it usually is because I realise I can barely walk, I ache all over and I haven't eaten or drank any water for hours. This craft of mine has possessed me like no other.

The plum petal corset is not perfect in my eyes - there is insufficent hip spring, I dislike the fact that the boning cap can be seen at the front petal point, the bagged out petals are too bulky....I could go on. I also knew that as it stands I would not be able to make this into a commercial pattern and would have to make it easier, so I threw myself into it again (a complete sucker for punishment!) making changes to the pattern - no overlapping petals, a smaller under-bust and a larger hip;

I know this design and finish is better but I couldn't help but think that plum one is more stunning - and all that effort I went to dying the petals a different shade! I put it to the vote and guess what, almost everyone preferred the plum one....so I think I'll stick with that one!