damselcorsets.com

Sunday, February 15, 2009

The Heinous Slaughter of Innocent Suitpants

Yes, I have been sidling into thrift stores again, exchanging money for innocent victims, and harboring them home to where the rotary cutter of death awaits. Then again, who can blame me for wanting to maul these shameful pieces of attire forged in the early nineties, where profuse pleats on pants reigned over the fashion world! Seriously, some of these things are the sole reason that "What Not to Wear" exists on TLC.

Plus, it's so much fun to go to thrift stores and look at the out-of-fashion clothing in a new light. I try to pick out the pieces that I strongly believe shouldn't even adorn another flesh and bones body in their present state, and in that way, I'm doing the world a favor by taking those things off the market! I'm well aware that my husband, who does all the cutting and grommeting in the corsets, loathes cutting the suitpants corsets! He's used to just pulling out a 54" bolt of upholstery fabric, folding it in half, and laying the corset patterns over it. With the pants, he has to carefully lay the patterns around certain elements of the pants, and generally, we aren't able to cut as many plus size corsets out of the pants, because, remember, these are generally tapered pants that just don't have enough room for the corsets built for women that have curves!
Instinctively, I feel like I should lavishly adorn the suitpants corsets, even though there's a little practical voice in my head that suggests that if I leave them alone, then they'll be able to transcend more easily into modern day wear, rather than all of them looking like costume pieces for the extremely fashion forward individuals who have the confidence to wear these out in public with jeans. However, I have a hard time controlling the urge. I want to make ostentatious adornments! I want to vicariously live through the vibrant women who wear these around while I stay at home sewing all day in jeans and a t-shirt.





Anyhow, I did just make a large purchase at the thrift store yesterday, and I promise to make some toned down "wear to work" type of corsets as well as the bold ones! I just want to say thank you to the bringers of "steampunk" fashion who have helped forge another appropriate and inspirational way to wear corsets! Thank you to the men who bought these pants in 1992, wore them to church a few times, threw them in their closet for 15 years, and then finally got rid of them, where they went from the trash bag to the sorting department to the hanger on the rack to my hands to my car to my sewing room to the cutting table through my sewing machine onto the mannequin into photographs onto etsy through the US Postal Service and INTO SOMEONE'S HEART! *Ahhhhh*

13 comments:

  1. The lacing on the first bodice- thats...amazingly hot! And I think you should include that as on option on your site when custom building corsets. *nods*

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  2. Ahhhh! I love your repurposed ones. It makes me sad to hear it's harder to make the plus sized ones, but I suppose that's more incentive to get to a healthier weight...

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  3. You keep making my addiction to your corsets worse woman! My god these are amazing. we must talk I need more!

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  4. they look magnificent I adore the second one. positively ADORE it

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  5. Fabulous! I agree, the Steampunk style is quite flattering on many body types. I am currently trying to get someone to make a very odd yet Steampunk-hot coat for me; they claim that people will think I escaped from a theater. I don't see a problem with that. More pirate coats, please?

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  6. I love these! I only wish they were overbust instead of underbust, as I really don't like the way I look in an underbust corset...
    Well, then again, maybe it's best for my wallet this way...

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  7. I'm completely in love with the suitpant corsets, both embellished and tame. I live in Berkeley, so I can pretty much get away with whatever I want in public without the classification of "weird," so bring it on!

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  8. I love the one with the lace-up ribbon on the back. Just gorgeous!

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  9. Indeed, the lacing on that first bodice is amazing... hoping to become a first time buyer reeeeeeally soon!

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  10. Is the one with the lacing all the way down the back for sale (yet)?

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  11. Those may be more difficult to cut out, but the end result is fabulous! I would love to wear something like that and not just to the faire!

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  12. These corsets are gorgeous, gorgeous things! I love the lacing on the back of the grayish one, and the lace frills on the last one. Awesome!

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