I’d collected three different cord-like materials to try out for my 1880’s corset. I’ve deliberately used different materials than Bridges on the Body in an effort to expand the current knowledge of what might be useful and their qualities for potential future projects.
[note: when I went back and read her cording post, it still turns out that we came to similar conclusions: the cotton filler is more consistent than hemp or man-made filler. I have the idea that the blind cord may prove too thick, ultimately, but I really like it, so I'm going to give it a try.)
The materials did not all act the way I’d expected, so this was very much a great project.
I’d collected some hemp, some cooking twine that’s generally used to tie dead animals, I mean, meat, before shoving them into an oven, and found a length of nylon cord left from another project lying around to put to good use.
The nylon cord lost all of it’s body when run through the machine. Therefore, for the last four rows, I ran the casings down quickly on the machine and then inserted the cord via the largest, longest upholstery needle I could find.
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| Grocery store solution: $1.29 |
The needle sliding is the more traditional method of cording and it actually worked faster than trying to hold the whole thing in place while running it through the machine. (I could have used pins, but it seems too fussy. One really just needs to be up as close to the zipper foot as possible.) It also looked “loftier”, when I was through, not having just been flattened under the feed dog and zipper foot.
Then, I went hunting for the cooking string and realized that I’d lost it. So, at the fabric shop I located some heavy Venetian blind cord and purchased some of that. I’m glad I did. It is .25 cents per yard, and went in very smoothly by just running it along side the zipper foot. It did not flatten out against the feed dog and zipper foot but began to take on immediate sculptural qualities, which is the whole point.
By the time I had four rows complete, I knew the Venetian blind cord was the clear winner, but for the sake of the experiment, I went ahead and ran the hemp ding through anyway. It smells terrible due to the dye, so that it’s immediate drawback. It was un-even and very lumpy, had no sculptural “hand” until I ran three pieces, via the upholstery needle again, through each casing. In the end, it has more a sculptural quality than the nylon cord, but was annoying to work with, even using the tapestry/upholstery needle for insertion. Note how the fabric has pulled out of shape around it and looks marred, even after pressing. I stopped after two rows, as there was no need to continue.
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| #2 - Venetian Blind Cord = The Winner! |
Coutil needs a pressing cloth or it will get shiny- scorchy under a too-hot iron.
The cord should be cut and not “wrapped” at the ends as seen here. The doubling-back makes for an uneven start of the next run. In fact, I believe that I’ll probably baste it lightly into place to make sure it’s even before I run the casings for it.
I initially thought that the heavy cord would alter the fabric by having it shrink a bit from the insertion. While it must, the backing piece seems to absorb some of the bulk as well. I used regular muslin for the backing here and they both ended up the same size against each other that they started as. So while the piece may shrink a bit over all, due to cord insertion, front and back seem to remain consistent as a unit. That is something to keep in mind when cutting the four front pieces: cut a bit longer and adjust them to the pattern after cord insertion.
My other concern is that the pattern seems to indicate that the boning channels run over the placed cording. Not sure how that’s going to work. Am considering running the channels behind the cording first, then stitching in the cord. Alternatively, I could stitch the boning channel to the front and adjust the cords to fit into the pockets created by doing so, one segment on each side of the boning channel.
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