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Coraline Inspired
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Outline the story …
My design is based on the children’s book "Coraline" by Neil Gaiman. The book is about Coraline Jones, a young girl who has moved to a new place and discovers a doorway leading into a parallel, sinister otherworld, meeting her 'Other Mother'. She must fight this beldam to secure her family's safety.
Using the story as my inspiration while thinking of ideas, I decided to create an asymmetric corset. I wanted each side to reflect different parts of the other world in Coraline. One cup has a wave, representing the transition into the other world, while the other is pointed, representing the nasty beldam (other mother). I continued this on the back with a wave and point. I chose to hand stitch wool on to create different sections on the corset and then added buttons in some parts, again, portraying the separation of the two worlds. The assorted buttons are direct inspiration from the other mother’s obsession with wanting to keep Coraline in her world by sewing buttons into her eyes. On the other half of the corset, I stitched on black ribbon by hand like branches with some small scattered buttons in the hope of conveying a creepy theme to the design.
Outline the construction…
I used purple crepe-backed satin because of the luxurious feel and the dark colour, reflecting the dark theme of the book. Structure for the corset consisted of tightly-woven denim because I had it on hand, rather than coutil fabric, and a mixture of flat plastic coated steel boning and plastic boning. In the end, I had fabric leftover, which I decided to utilise by making a matching purple pencil skirt for myself, which I also drafted from scratch.
Overall, the techniques needed to complete this project were drafting the pattern from scratch. This was a difficulty I had to overcome because I had to complete several fittings on myself, but I persevered to try to get the best fit. I sewed the corset together and used the sandwich method for my corset to create my boning channels. I bound it with the same purple satin cut on the bias. It was a challenge to bind this corset because of the steep curves and the points, which I had to do mitered corners for the first time.
For the decoration, it involved a lot of hand sewing, which was needed for the wool, ribbon, buttons and eyelets. I enjoyed hand sewing with so many different materials and components in one project. I think the quirky and slightly dark design reflects the story of Coraline well and I hope you like it as well!
Stunning! I Love your creation! I am a huge Tim Burtin fan. The film Coraline is a weird and wacky masterpiece and you certainly captured the dark vibes from this movie! My favorite part is the asymmetrical cups and back which helps create an eerie look to it. I applaud your dedication to sewing on what looks like hundreds of buttons. I can’t stand sewing on buttons, (or any closure for that matter) so half of my costumes are safety pinned together! The fact that you did it willingly, made it even more fabulous!
I love how you translated the story into the corset, especially using the buttons. Great work.
You nailed the mood in Burtons universe, and still managed to get your gorgeous touch on it! I’m loving your edge lines of the corset and your use of buttons ! Marvellous
I love the asymmetrical shape and your hard work sewing all the buttons
i love this corset! of course the connections to Coraline are obvious, but your use of buttons brings to my mind tara donovan’s work– she builds these strange organic forms out of ordinary materials like drinking straws, that end up looking like coral or lichen. you’ve got something similar going on with your encrusted buttons. it’s quite beautiful. best of luck, from icarus.
You really nailed the mood of Coraline. I love all the buttons and the asymmetry that kind of throws you off balance in a good way!
Wow. Amazing. I love how all the bits and bobs meld together to make such a lovely garment.
Fantastic work, I love the buttons.
Great job executing a tricky design!
I love the asymmetrical design and shapes that you’ve created, very dark and disconcerting, you captured the atmosphere of the story perfectly!
this is so cool! i love that you made it asymetrical