Bridal bodice - boning
2 August 2010, 13:42With the seams (mostly) constructed and all the seam allowances tacked down, it was time for the boning! Bridal Couture assumes that you’ve got a fairly standard princess-seamed bodice and so advises that you sew the channels to the centre of the underlining pieces at the very beginning before attaching the underlining to the fashion fabric. But my bodice has all sorts of crazy seams and the boning crosses over a bunch of seamlines, so I had to obviously apply my channels after the main seams were stitched, as Susan Khalje advises in this Threads article.
I was originally thinking to make my own channels with silk organza, but then I saw that the Sewing Chest had pre-made and seam-free cotton channels so I bought those and ended up going with that instead to save myself some time. And as Ms Khalje talks about using them herself, I figured it’s okay!
So I started a production line – first I sewed the end of the channel closed with the sewing machine, then I carefully pinned the channel to the bodice underlining where it was needed, then cut the end just before the seamline at the bottom of the bodice. Once all the channels were in place, I then catchstitched them all to the flannel underlining, keeping the bottom free to insert the boning.
Here you can see all the channels, minus the one going on the zipper tape (to be attached after the zipper is in place):
Details of all that catchstitching… I’m going through the ivory silk thread at an alarming rate!
And here’s the correct side of that side seam seen above. I’m quite proud of my seam matching!
After the photos were taken and the channels were in, I sewed the shoulder seams and catchstittched those allowances, too, so I could get a feel for the fit with the boning in place.
This was my first time working with spiral steel boning, but it won’t be the last! It’s cheap, super flexible in 360 degrees, and not stiff or curved in the slightest like the covered plastic boning. And because you’re dealing with channels, you can remove the boning while you’re working on the garment and just pop them in at the last second. If you’ve ever worked with boning of any type, you know how a garment takes on a life of its own once the boning is attached and you’re wrestling to get it under the machine!
You can buy spiral steel boning in pre-cut lengths, but none of these lengths matched what I actually needed so would have to be cut down. So instead I opted instead to buy it in one continuous length so I wouldn’t have any waste, and I could trim and cap it as I liked.
How to cut spiral steel boning
Gather your materials – spiral steel boning, end caps (two for each length of boning in the same width as your boning!), needlenose pliers, and wire cutters.
Using the wire cutters, snip through just one wire on one side. Do NOT cut across the whole boning! If your cutters are anything like mine, it may not cut the whole way through so you may need to twist and bend it til it snaps at the weak spot you’ve just made…
Snip the wire on the other side from your first cut…
Pull the sides apart, and grab an end cap…
Put the end cap over the end of your boning and squeeze the sides of the end cap with pliers to make it tight.
Put an end cap on the other end and your boning is finished and ready for insertion!
Oh and in other news, we had a bit of a London sewing blogger mini-meetup yesterday afternoon for the Fashion & Textile Museum‘s Horrockses exhibit. Karen from Did You Make That?, Susannah from Cargo Cult Craft, and Tilly of “…and the Buttons” fame all joined me in a bunch of vintage dress drooling on a Sunday afternoon, and much fun was had by all. I was most impressed by all the wonderful vintage prints that wouldn’t be out of place in Ikea’s textile department today, though the construction details of the dresses themselves weren’t particularly original (but hey, it was RTW, not couture, so what do you expect?). Anyway, Tilly’s got some great photos up already so I don’t feel bad about not taking any myself!
Next up on the dress: clipping, turning, pressing, and catchstitching the neckline and armhole edges…
tags: boning, dress, tutorial, weddingComments:
Bridal bodice - Piping and basting Bridal bodice - finishing the edges, waist stay, and zipper
Totally counter-intuitive for steel boning to be more flexible than plastic, isn’t it? Thanks for the tutorial, and you’re totally right about buying pre-made chaneling, no need to make busy work here.
Ah and well, as long as you don’t try to get on an airplane in the wedding dress :-)..
— Marie-Christine Aug 2, 03:06 PM #
I get excitied each time you post these wedding dress updates. Thank you so much for the tutorial. I would love to put some boning in garments but hated to commit to a particular length. Now you’ve once again shown me the way to success. Thank you!!
— Jane S Aug 2, 03:22 PM #
Beyond impressive! I cannot wait to see the gorgeous finished product! Thanks for the referral to the other sewing blogs; I checked them out and know I will be visiting those regularly too!
— Pamela Aug 2, 05:05 PM #
Ooo.. thanks for the tips on spiral steel boning! I’m going to have to look for that next time. I love your detailed progess.. it’s so exciting it!
— Angela Aug 2, 10:31 PM #
Stunning work, and you’re moving so fast.
— Hatty Aug 3, 02:12 PM #
I’ve been following your wedding dress posts, and I am finding them SO helpful as I am planning the construction of my own wedding dress. Thanks for sharing!
— Gabby Aug 3, 03:08 PM #
I already have my wedding dress it has no boning in it I was wondering would it b a good idea to get it added to my dress I would feel better supported I’m kinda heavy chested has anyone ever done that before?? I really don’t kno wat to do
— Day1 Aug 8, 12:15 PM #
Day1 – Yeah you can absolutely add boning to a dress after it’s already made. You actually do it the same way I did mine – close the top end of the boning channels by machine, and then by hand, catchstitch the channels onto the inside of the dress (if it’s difficult to detatch the lining at the waistband to get the boning onto the underside of your shell fabric, you can just attach it to the lining if you don’t mind having the boning show on the inside).
There was a really good recent thread on the PR forums showing boning placement to support a large bust that should be really helpful for you: http://sewing.patternreview.com/SewingDiscussions/topic/52297
— melissa Aug 9, 12:22 PM #