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Rumpelstiltskin
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The corset pattern is made by Lucy Emke of Waisted Creations
Outline the story …
When I was a child, I had had a fairytale book of the Brothers Grimm. It was a bundle with a lot of different classical stories, and one of them was the story of "Rumpelstiltskin". This story is based on an old tale about a miller's daughter who is ordered by the king to spin gold from straw. Of course, she cannot do this, and a magical gnome named Rumpelstiltskin comes to help her for the price of her firstborn child. I always loved this story and read it loads of times. Later, when I was older, a television series named ‘Once Upon a Time’ was made. It is a spin-off of a lot of classic fairytales and of course, Rumpelstiltskin was my favourite character.
When the competition theme was announced, I immediately knew I wanted to make a female Rumpelstiltskin. A woman who is powerful and feminine at the same time. To accentuate this, I wanted to make a corset with a fierce-looking neckline and delicate decorations. I choose brown earth tones as a base colour for the look, to keep a connection with the old story of the gnome living in the woods. The structure and iridescence of the fashion fabric reminded me of the characteristic skin of the series character. I decorated the corset with delicate flowers to portray femininity, magic and the fact that Rumpelstiltskin does and has whatever she wants.
Outline the construction…
Since this is just the third corset I have made (not counting many toiles), I challenged myself in a few different ways: first, I used a thick cork fabric, a material I had never worked with before. Second, I chose an overbust pattern with a challenging neckline. Finally, I chose to construct the corset using inside boning channels, a method I had never used before. This construction method scared me as it can be hard to align the boning channels over the seamlines to create even stitching on both sides. I ended up using premade boning channels over the seams which I basted and stitched on from the outside of the corset. In the middle of the panels, I used twill tape, stitched from the inside.
The strength layer is made from herringbone coutil, the fashion fabric is a cork fabric, and the lining is made from hand-dyed cotton sateen. The corset contains 16 spiral steel bones and 13 flat steel bones, counting the busk.
The fashion fabric is fused to the strength layer because I was afraid of a needle leaving visible holes behind. I bound the edges of the corset with handmade bias tape. It took a lot of practice to bind the pointy edge in a way that it retained the sharp points, especially with this thick fabric.
I decorated the corset with real dried flowers, which I treated with a sealer medium and finally glued on.
I really love the shaping on the front of the corset-looks menacing, and fey!
Thank you for linking it! 😊
This is breathtaking- the neckline, the flowers, the fit!!
Ahh thank you so much for your kind comment! 🌞
Beautifully made! And I appreciate your design choices, the colors, detailings and patterns chosen that underline the character you’re creating!
The corset is amazing! I love the top shaping.
Thank you for liking it 😊
Beautiful corset, love the shaping and the sort of 3D-embroidery!
Checked the embroidery and read the last sentence of your text – real flowers! Aaaaah wow
Haha yes! I wanted to bring nature into this piece because Rumpelstiltskin from Grimm is a gnome living in the forest.
This is stunning! The fabric, colours, and flowers are just perfect!! Well done!!
Your kind words bring a smile on my face 😊. Thank you for the appreciation! 🤩
So very pretty! Loving the fabric and use of real flowers.
Thanks 😊
I love the shaping of the corset and especially the flowers. I have to admit, I wouldn´t have imagined Rumpelstiltskin as female, for me he was always a fat dwarf with a red hat, but your Rumpelstiltskin is absolutely amazing!
This is a wonderful corset. I love those flowers. Very nicely done! Thank you!