They've got to be easy to remove...

So 2 new burlesque routines were put together recently, 1 of which was a double-act so lots of costuming has been a-foot.

The corset is entirely spiral steels to allow flexibility for dancing in. It doesn't have a busk as it stays on for the whole performance and as I had to make 2 of everything it kept cost down too! When I first made it I put 2 wide inflexible steels at the centre front which gave a lovely flat front but had a couple of drawbacks.
1. As it was based on the same pattern that I had made for an entirely spirals corset, the flats stopped it tightening quite so much at the waist and although the silhouette from the front was gorgeous, the back lacing had that upside-down 'V' of a poorly fitting corset.
2. It didn't work very well with a bra as it made the underwires dig in.
3. It was a lot more difficult to bend over in, which was essential for my solo act, which used the reverse side of the corset. (Yes, reversible too!)

The skirt is a riot of liquid satin and garish colour. The complimentary skirt was made with the blue satin that you can see in the trim and pink and yellow ruffles. Everything had to be overlocked or roll-hemmed, including the ruffles as liquid satin unravels quicker than a ball of wool in the clutches of a kitten. I was hoping my Ultimate Ruffler would make light work of this, but sadly it just wasn't up to the job and I had to gather by hand. It wraps around and the ribbon waistband turns into a side-tie for easy removal.

This is the reverse of the corset, which I designed to go with my other new costume. This saved me having to make yet another corset for the event, and saved money obviously. It was a little tricky trying to work out how to do the lacing panels without interfering with either side but I was very pleased with the final piece. Both outers are 100% cotton with a cotton coutil sandwiched in between.

I really didn't know what I was going to do about the modesty panel - in the end I just made a loose one that the person lacing me up could push into place for me. This corset was an absolute nightmare to lace as it had to be so loose in order to get it over my head, it needed so much tightening once on and I'd accidentally bought a new type of lace with no slide whatsoever. Trying to get it off in a hurry was no fun either as the easiest option was to just unlace -tricky on your own at the end of the night!