FOUNDATIONS REVEALED COMPETITION ENTRY
Raspberry Datura
(click images to to enlarge)
Outline the story …
I dreamed of an old mansion and its abandoned garden with Art Nouveau forged gates overgrown with wild datura. Nature captured in blacksmith’s skill. Blacksmith’s skill captured by Nature. But I wanted to perform this kind of aesthetic not in an obvious gothic manner but more in coquettish Marie Antoinette manner (because it’s much harder for me, everything I make tends to look gloomy).
And I wanted the stays to be embellished really hard. So this time it’s not about my favorite luneville embroidery, but about bead weaving techniques to create volumetric three-dimensional forms almost in their natural size. And the decoration isn’t ready actually, since it needs even more leaves and flowers, but it takes a huge amount of time, so I decided to stop at this point. Maybe I'll return someday and make it look like that dream.
Outline the construction…
Recreating stays was an old wish. When Barbara Pesendorfer and Luca Costigliolo released their amazing workshop, this wish became literally unbearable. Although staysmaking is closely related to corsetmaking, at the same time it is so special. This was a challenge, but a delightful challenge from the first mockup to the last bead. I like how it turned out, how it behaves on the body, and I’m excited to continue the experiments.
The stays are made of two layers of coutil, the outer one is spot broche, the inner one is herringbone. Fully boned with 5 mm plastic bones, and for breast support 11 mm metal bones were used.
There are several tips I want to share. First one is binding. I really like to explore lingeriemaking supply shops to find out some materials for modern corsetry. In this particular case I tried a very thin elastic band instead of a usual bias, and it worked perfectly for such a complicated shape to bind.
The second one is stitching the seams. I tried to stitch by hand like in the workshop, but the thread tension was not enough for this kind of garment at all. So I finished the seams with narrow and tight zig-zag machine stitch like in buttonhole sewing.
And the last one is thimble crafting. Staysmaking requires lots of handsewing. But ready-made thimbles are absolutely uncomfortable for me, so I do the new one every time from tissue based adhesive tape and a piece of cupboard.
That corset-bodice is flawlessly constructed! And the beadwork that’s been done so far is excellent, I hope you get to finish it someday because I love the “wrought-iron gate with overgrown flowers” concept, and what’s been done so far is beautiful!
I hope so too, thank you for your kind words!
The beadwork is stunning!
Thank you so much!
This is so beautiful! Amazing design and beadwork!
I love how this looks just as it is! It is beautiful – I actually really love that the vegetation is not overtaking the wrought iron detail. To me it feels more authentic to nature. Beautiful work and so inspirational!
Yes, this is so inspirational!