If you’ve been following along on my chaotic little journey to create a black-tie, masquerade-appropriate gown in… checks calendar… basically no time at all, you’ll be happy to know we’ve hit a major milestone.
I finally settled on a corset pattern.
Yes, after spiraling through Pinterest, rethinking my life choices, and pretending procrastination is part of the creative process, I landed on the Toolfully corset pattern on Etsy. It’s a simple 5-piece design—clean, straightforward, and exactly the kind of foundation piece I needed to get moving.
Of course, because this is me, I immediately made changes.
Nothing dramatic… just the usual: adjusting seam allowances and adding boning.
A lot of boning.
Like, “is this corset preparing for battle?” levels of boning.
But the real star of this update?
The fabric.
Choosing the right base fabric for a corset feels a little like choosing the right skincare product—you think you can get away with a random pick, but the wrong choice will humble you quickly. I played around with a linen-like cotton and even considered neoprene for a moment (don’t judge me), but ultimately I went with duck canvas… and THANK GOODNESS I did.
When I say this canvas does not budge, I mean it does. not. budge.
It’s firm, structured, and honestly makes me feel like I finally know what I’m doing. The boning sits securely, the shape holds beautifully, and the corset actually feels like a foundation worthy of a couture-inspired gown.
And since this thing is basically indestructible, I finished it off with a metal zipper, because let’s be real—nothing else was going to survive this level of reinforcement. A regular zipper would have tapped out immediately.
So now that the corset is done (and she is STURDY), I can finally move on to the glamorous part: building the dress around it. The silhouette is taking shape, the vision is getting clearer, and the masquerade countdown clock is ticking very loudly.
Stay tuned for the next update where I either triumph beautifully… or decide to hand-stitch the skirt at 3am while rethinking every decision I’ve ever made.
Either way, it’ll be fun.
and here
Boning channels
