FOUNDATIONS REVEALED COMPETITION ENTRY
Ondine
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Outline the story …
When I learned about this year's theme “The natural world”, I immediately thought of the Ocean theme. Within the group of French corset makers, we had just launched a 'sew along' around this theme. Besides, I have always been fascinated by the ocean.
Two things immediately came to mind with this theme, the changing blue-green turquoise color, and the wave ondulating shape. Hence the name Ondine which also evokes seafaring mythological creatures.
For the color, I decided to work my pieces in various shades of turquoise, and for the wave shape I immediately thought of the S cut so characteristic of the Edwardian style. Those shapes are underlined by lines of white pearls evoking foam. In addition, I represented the rolling waves which ceaselessly "overflow" by muslin lined with pearls, once again evoking foam.
For decoration, in addition to the 'foam' pearls, I wanted to add small decorative elements made in metal wire and pearls evoking seaweed.
Outline the construction…
To work on the first mock-up, I started with a historical corset, ref K, from Atelier Sylphe. After a lot of trial and error to get it to fit my measurements, I was not satisfied because the mock-up still had many pleats around the waist. I then decided to start anew from a Victorian-era pattern perfectly cut to my measurements, to use it as a base and then cut out the Edwardian pattern I wanted. I precise that I make this Victorian-era pattern myself. The assembly is made with folded seams with added bone casing and a lining for a perfect finish.
For a more polished finish, I decided to add a modesty panel which I rarely do on my creations. I am not very convinced by this first attempt at drawing a bone pattern for this element, as this piece isn’t as smooth as I would have liked it. It’s still doing its job and the next one I make will surely be better !
Finally, the biggest challenge on this project was the dyeing part. It was a first for me. I had to do many dyeing tests and finally decided to brush-dye the corset to have more control on the gradient of colors I wanted on each piece.
You really look like you just raised out of the sea!
Pretty costume! And I really like your color choice.