I make all my sample corsets up to my size so I can photograph them inexpensively - I make so many for my Patreon patrons that I simply can't afford to recruit a model/MUA and photographer each time. Luckily I'm a pretty standard size however the extent of waist cinch is never very impressive! This is my failing of this design I think and I spent yesterday doing a redraw to pull in that waist a little more. As a bodice though I'm happy with how it has turned out and I can imagine this as a gown or wedding dress. Now to decide whether I want to enter it into the Foundations Revealed contest!

I've found over the years that keeping progress notes is so important when charting the progress of a design. It is so easy to  get carried away and plough on thinking you will remember what you've done. You never do unless copious notes are scrawled on patterns, toiles, notebooks...So many times I have not been able to match a toile with a pattern and forgotten how I did this , that and the other. So annoying!

I tend to work across my CAD screen from left to right and import photos of toiles and fittings above the corresponding pattern. I also write notes in there about the order of construction. The order of construction has never been as important as it is with my latest design - the petal corset. The fabric petals interlock together and hide the boning channels - it's complex!

I now have a fully assembled corset and have drawn some flat diagrams up;

I love this design so much and would like to explore it more in terms of its commercial potential however I know from experience how difficult these swirling designs are to grade. I'm always up for a challenge though so we'll see.

Renewal, regeneration...these sorts of themes are currently being explored by everyone wanting to enter this year's competition. I haven't delved into the theme in any abstract way but I am thinking of using it to push me into a design that has been swimming around in my head for a while.

I am a bit obsessed by swirling panel shapes (especially after all the work I did on my crescent corset) and would love to create a flower bud with opening petals. Renewal is everywhere in nature and unfurling petals is just the beginning in the cycle of bloom and bust that begets everything. 

I've made a start and it's going OK - I have dyed fabric in different shades to get some sort of differentiation between the petals and make them stand out. Here is the initial toile of the front section;

I'll keep this blog updated with more progress pics along the way.