Wonder Woman Corset Part I

My Wonder Woman corset combines the flexibility and strength of leather and the comfort of fabric with some additional support built in.  Similar to my WW gladiator skirt, the corset features two layers- a soft interior and a leather exterior.  When originally sketching my idea, I imagined how convenient it would be with a built in bra and then decided to make that a part of the final design.

Materials needed: Fabric, sewing machine, needle, thread, pins, white charcoal pencil, scissors, Velcro, ruler, leather punch, measuring tape, eyelets, eyelet tool, marker, masking tape, 6 mm EVA foam (2 rectangles 9"x12), 2mm EVA foam (used small portion of roll).  Not pictured: bra (will be used in costume), non-stretchy shirt (just for measuring, will not be used in actual costume), lacing for back of corset.

Materials, continued: Leather, acrylic paint (I used the same thalo gold, black, and alizarin crimson paint from previous costume pieces plus the Angelus autumn red to thicken up the base layer), paintbrushes, matte acrylic finisher, water and stain repellant, Ecoweld (leather cement), q-tips,  foam ball (whole or half sphere in your desired cup size), heat gun, foil.

If you are making a full costume, you will want to make the corset top after the skirt so you can adjust the length to line up well with the skirt.  I am using photos with a dress form to help illustrate- a dress form is not required and I did not use the dress form for measuring.  You want the measurements to match your body, not the dress form's.

Part I encompasses the fabric under layer of the corset.  I started by wearing the Wonder Woman skirt and a fitted shirt that wasn't too stretchy.  I used masking tape to mark the shirt approximately where I wanted the corset top to begin on top and end at the bottom.

I traced the shirt onto a sturdy, non-stretchy fabric (same material I used for the skirt) in four pieces with the white charcoal pencil and cut them out, as shown below.  (The outside edges will go in the back, where the top will fasten corset-style.)  As with any corset, be careful not to use too much material.  (You can always let the strings out a little if it is too small but there is a point at which you cannot fasten a corset any tighter if it is too big.)  I did leave enough length in the back so I could fold the edges under and stitch later.

I pinned the material as shown below.

Then I sewed the four pieces together.  For the  middle seam, I did not stitch all the way to the top (see next photo- the top center needs to be open.)  Note that I also did not stitch the top edge or back edges at this point.

The costume has a bra stitched in for support, fit, and comfort- you will either cut off or hide the straps at the end, so an older bra with fraying straps would be ideal.  While wearing the bra, I pinned on the material and tucked excess fabric under the bra band to create a fitted piece.   Below, you can see the pinning.

Then, I stitched the fabric to the bra by hand.

I stitched the material to the band, as shown below, with excess fabric tucked under.  I did not stitch the band all the way to the back- I want the band to be able to stretch in the back without being attached to the fabric.  Also, note how the back edge is folded under and pinned.  This will be stitched after support is added and excess material underneath can be trimmed.

I sketched and cut out two leather strips that matched the length of the corset back.  Then I stitched the leather in between the two layers of fabric where I had folded it over.   

Next, I punched holes through the fabric and leather and installed eyelets using an eyelet tool.  The leather inside serves to provide support and to prevent the eyelets from being ripped out.  I cut out a section out to accommodate the tuck in the fabric.

Then I stitched it to align with the tuck.

The under corset is complete.  You can see how it fastens in the back (again, the dress form is just for show- it was not the same as my measurements.)  The piece fits me more uniformly than it does the dress form.

See Part II for directions on how to construct the leather outer layer.