The internet reminded me of this
sheer bridal corset today…
It was made to go beneath the Sunshine gown for my friend Lou and ooh, it was delicious. I’d made another similar piece for a different bride not long before, though that one was more white than cream.
I just love lace… There’s no denying that. And though I love intricacy and can push things by layering up embellishments, there is ultimately always lace involved somewhere along the way. I found these pieces so pleasing though and I think it’s because of the lingerie feel they have. Indeed, as soon as cups are involved I find that the feel becomes more intimate, even if the garment is made as outer-wear.
The delicacy of lace on sheer, that’s the thing. Some of my friends and peers have gone next level with this idea in the past couple of years as bobbinet became popular amongst independent corsetmakers. I sadly never got round to trying it myself, but perhaps one day. What I especially love about it is that the shape is softer and rounder as the corset has more flex. So that sense of a delicate, intimate connection between corset and body is heightened.
But yes, delicacy. I’ve just had a visceral memory of hand-rolling silk georgette hems and appliquéing lace to the Swan wedding gown for Brenda a few years ago… Delicate work develops refined hands, and it’s a joy.
We had one beautiful cupped evening-wear corset we made, Carbon, that I believe was sadly lost along with some others in a house fire! No-one was hurt, of course, else I shouldn’t mention the corset… But imagine that. Something unique, gone, and it will never exist again. 
I realise now that I live much of my life in my head and my hands. It makes for good work, but it’s incomplete. You also need to live in your body and the fresh air. This is ultimately where all the current changes are coming from, a need to live not just in my head and my hands.
But I don’t regret the obsessive years of corsetry, and I would never be able to live without at least some time each day in that mindset. It’s too rewarding. It’s a pleasure to build treasures, to make something new. To create something that is the physical manifestation of an individual’s head and hands.
