I love sewing DIY corset tops! 😀 For my DIY corset tops I use sewing techniques inspired by my DIY historical corsets. But corset tops usually have lighter boning than traditional corsets. And you can also use all kinds of fabric for DIY corset tops: like upcycled jeans, upcycled T-shirts, cotton fabrics and lace fabrics. You can even weave your own fabric or make a crochet corset top from scratch! 😊 Below are 7 (video) tutorials for different DIY corset tops.
Related: Edwardian S-Bend Corset
Refashioned Jeans Or Twill Corset Top
My DIY upcycled jeans corset top, which I made over 4 years ago when corset tops were not as popular as they’re today, is inspired by 18th century stays. For this DIY denim corset top, I actually adapted an 18th century stays pattern from Jill Salen‘s Corset book. 😉
Related: DIY Upcycled Jeans Corset Top – Modern 18th Century Recycled Denim Stays
Since it’s a very popular post on my blog, I recently made a basic video tutorial of how you can make your own DIY corset top from upcycled jeans or cotton twill fabric. It’s a basic corset top tutorial and you can add your own favorite details to make your DIY corset top unique: like a zipper closure at the front, lace-up hooks at the front, lacing at the sides and back, more or less corset boning, or tabs like on 18th century stays.
Upcycled T-Shirt Corset Top – Inspired By Historical Elastic Corsets
What many people don’t know: Elastic corsets were already a thing in the Victorian and Edwardian era. These antique stretch corsets were made either from stretch materials like jersey-like knitted silk, wool or cotton fabrics. Or they had insets of elastic bands at the sides or elastic lacing at the back. At the Met museum there’s an antique boned cotton jersey knit corset from ca. 1885. And here’s an illustration of a corset with an elastic jersey knit fabric inset at the front from 1907.
These antique elastic corsets inspired me to make upcycled DIY corset tops from old T-shirts. 😊
DIY Crochet Lace Corset Top
My DIY crochet lace corset top is inspired by the popular and extremely expensive Dion Lee crochet corset tops. I made my DIY crochet corset top with mercerized cotton crochet thread from scratch. And unlike Dion Lee crochet corset tops, my DIY crochet lace corset top:
- has also filet crochet on the back – not just a piece of fabric
- is more shaped to the figure
- the top and bottom of my DIY crochet corset top is finished with three rows of single crochet stitches – not just knit bias binding
- has reinforced plastic corset boning hidden inside cotton twill tape boning channels
- has a front zipper closure
- has DIY crochet lacing on the back
Related: DIY Crochet Lace Corset Top From Scratch – Dion Lee Inspired
To my surprise, it was actually quite quick to crochet my crochet corset top from scratch! 😀 But what was more difficult was sewing corset boning to the lacy crochet fabric in such a way that it doesn’t distract from the filet crochet lace pattern!
Cotton Net Summer Corset Top
Because I had a few fabric scraps left over from my Edwardian summer corset, I made a summer corset top from leno-weave cotton net fabric.
Related: Edwardian Cotton Net Summer Corset
Handwoven Corset Tops
I love to weave fabric for clothing on my rigid heddle loom! 😀
Related: How To Make A Handwoven Corset Top – Turquoise Corset Top
So I’ve actually already made a couple of handwoven corset tops and also a fit-and-flare handwoven dress from scratch!
Related: Blue & White Handwoven Corset Top
Handwoven 18th Century Stays
While the two DIY handwoven corset tops above are more modern, this blue-and-white striped handwoven corset top is inspired by 18th century stays. It’s still modern but I used an 18th century stays pattern and I also used 18th century and other historical sewing technique. My handwoven 18th century stays has hand-sewn eyelets, spiral lacing, DIY fingerloop lacing cords, selvages joined with the old German stitch, fabric piecing, pattern pieces hand-sewn together with old German and overhand stitches.
Related: Handwoven 18th Century Stays
Needle-Woven Corset Top
In addition to my rigid heddle woven corset tops, I also made a needle-woven corset top with cotton lace inserts.
Related: 6 Ways How To Insert Lace
Which is your favorite of these DIY corset tops? 😀
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