Blog — Skeletons in the Closet Couture and Corsetry

3 December 202414 December 2024

Closing down Sale – Corsets – Separates

Read this first!

RULES!

All corset are sold without ribbon lacing.
If you want to have me add ribbon lacing I can order it for you for 5 euro’s.
All sales are final,
I will try to mention the state of the items best I can.
All items are being sold for what is basically materials +tax. I will not respond to lower offers.
All prices exclude shipping. I ship with DHL or PostNL.
I hope all these items can go to a lovely home.

Underbusts

Black coutil underbust corset with red Flossing. Used once in a photoshoot.

Underbust 69 cm
Waist 55 cm
Hips 79 cm

Price 60 Euro

Snowleopard underbust corset

Underbust 78 cm
Waist 68 cm
Hips 86 cm

Price 50 Euro

Short Silk Waspie with embroidered front. Never worn.

Waist 50 cm
Front length 13.5 cm

50 Euro

Short single layer coutil waspie. Worn once at a photoshoot.

Underbust 65 cm
Waist 55 cm
Hips 74 cm
Front lenght 22.5 cm

50 Euro

ON HOLD

Mesh waspie with embroidered ribbon lacing. Back panel made with liliac faux silk. Worn twice for photoshoots.

Underbust 73 cm
Waist 62 cm
Hips 86 cm
Front lenght 23 cm

65 Euro

SOLD

Overbusts

Golden overbust corset, made out of silk with a coutil lining. Worn for 3 photoshoots.

Bust 90 cm
waist 60 cm
Hips 98cm
Front lenght 39 cm

100 Euro

ON HOLD

Floral velvet corset Dutch Masters style. Used in 2 photshoots. Suitable for large boobs.

SOLD

Mesh overbust corset with velvet ribbon casing.

Bust 88 cm
Waist 57 cm
Hips 90 cm

90 euro

Silk edwardian corset

Worn once for a photoshoot in excelent condition.

Midbust: 82 cm
Waist 57 cm
Hips 94 cm
Front lenght 36 cm

Price 150 euro

Pink silk edwardian corset with bridal lace trimm

Underbust 72 cm
Waist 62 cm
Hips 84 cm

Price 150 euro

Pair of stays

Made as an experiment/sample piece. Out of two layers of cotton with steel boning. As it is a sample piece there are some markings for the boning channels on the inside. Only tried on, never had an option to wear it and now it is too big.

Bust 100 cm
Waist 80 cm.

Price 50 euro’s

ON HOLD

Separates

Leather neck corset with scale maille

Price 45 euro

SOLD

Neck corset out of coutil with feathers (necklace not included

Price 50 euro

Mesh Capelet

25 euro

ONHOLD

Russian Court Gown by Skeletons in the Closet

Court gown, only the top and the overskirt. Black underskirt not included

100 euro

Beetlewing bodice. 4 Beetlewings have broken in storage. Made out of taffeta with coutil lining and a few bones.

Bust 88 cm
Waist 64 cm

Price 50 euro’s

Black Organza dress with belt, size S

Worn for two photoshoots

Price 45 euro’s

ON HOLD

Two tone brown organza dress

With brown velvet ribbon details and waistband. The front is a little shorter than the back.

Size S

Price 45 euro’s

Blue voile dress, Size S

This blue dress is fully lined. It fall straight down and is suitable to be worn with a belt or a corset (not included)

50 euro’s

CORSET NOT INCLUDED

Black taffeta overskirt with elasticated waistband.

Waist 80-100 cm

Price 35 euro

ON HOLD

Underskirt made out of a thick dark green cotton.

With elastic waistband

Size 80-100 cm

Price 45 euro

If you see something you like, send in the following form and I will contact you. In the message box add the names of the items you would like and where you are located. (for calculating shipping costs)

14 January 202414 January 2024

Bloodmoon corset

In 2019 I made the first moonchild corset. The moonchild corset is made out of black silk, coutil, ivory corsetry mesh. It has a front panel made out of coutil covered in silk, 2 mesh side panels and a back panel made out of coutil and silk. It has an inner waist tape. The moonchild corset is for the unique and curious souls who are out of this world and do not want to live in the harsh reality.

Now the Moonchild corset has a dark sister. This is the Bloodmoon corset.

The Bloodmoon corset is made out of black silk, coutil, and black corsetry mesh. This corset has a front panel made out of coutil covered in silk, 4 mesh side panel and a back panel made out of coutil and silk. The waist tape is made out a velvet ribbon. The extra mesh panel compared to the moonchild corset gives it a bit more space to show your skin underneath the corset. The creation of this Bloodmoon corset for me is about change, new beginnings and embracing the darker aspects of femininity. Be unapologetic feminine.

The bloodmoon corset can be found in the webshop.

8 January 20248 January 2024

1940s coat

One of the styles I love to make more and more these years are the 1940s outfits. They are so classy and elegant. Perfect for many occasions.

Not only do I love the fashions, I also love the make do and mend attitude of the era. An important resolution for the new year is to do more with the large amount of fabrics I already have in stock. This means that there will be more ready to ship items available in the web shop in the coming year.

This coat is based on an historical pattern from the 40s. It features a shawl collar, an A-line skirt and belt. It is made out of a wool mix and closes with snap buttons to give it that smooth look at the front.

Since the fabric had a check pattern I made sure to match the pattern down the centre back and centre front. Also I made sure that both sleeves have the same place where the check pattern starts at the top.

The coat has light shoulder padding and a pleated puff sleeve.

Now I have not added this coat to the web shop, since I made it for me. However, of course I can make you a similar coat. We can find your own unique fabric and create a 1940s dream just for you.

23 August 20218 January 2024

The making of the 1891 Ageless Patterns Riding corset

20-08-2021 The Start

After a bit of a summer hiatus I am trying to get back into the swing of things. With covid and the lack of events and such my sewing-focus is at an all time low. Now I have learned about myself in the past years that sometimes I just need to start on a project and then the creativity will follow. To make myself follow trough with this project I decided to document it on the Blog.

A corsetry colleague of mine was selling a part of the corset making collection, including this ageless patterns version of a 1891 riding corset. I bought this from her in the hopes that it will rekindle my love for corsetry.

Since this is not a commissioned project I decided that it has to be made largely from my stash of fabrics. I have had this floral quilting fabric for ages, the lace is left over from a commission from some years back, and the velvet ribbon is also a left over stash piece.

27-8-2021 – The pattern

If you have worked with Ageless patterns before you may know that the sizing is a little off at times. Ageless patterns takes patterns from historical sources and grades them. So the pattern is just as it was back then. They do add seam allowance.

The first thing I do when working with a pattern like this is taping together a paper version of it to just check the pattern pieces. I traced a size 26 inch. I chose this size because it is closest to my size. This way I have the option of keeping it if it does not sell.

Right away I notice that the front hip gusset is longer than the 2^nd front piece. Now I have two options, I can add some length to the front pieces or I can shorten the gusset. The drawing from this corset shows quite a pointed look. Since I love this look, and human beings are generally longer now than they were 100 years ago, I decided to go for the lengthening of the front pieces.

Papier pieces glued together for a first glimps on how this corset will look.

Well it has been a while. Currently I am busy with a study for my day job leaving me not that much time to sew. So there is tons of creative energy but not enough time to do all the projects I want to do. But finally I have taken the time to make some more progress with this corset!

20-03-2022 First steps

Here you can see the first and second panel and the amount I have lengthened the corset.

I am making this corset out of a floral quilting cotton and a coutil strength layer. Before assembling the corset stitch the floral cotton to the coutil and then treat it as one layer. In the past I have fused the cotton to the coutil, but I prefer to use a little glue in my sewing as possible. So when it is not necessary just don’t glue.

After attaching the fashion fabric to the coutil I stitched the first to the second panel. The seamlines are stitched twice.

29-5-2022 Corset Panels Assemble!

Now it is time to assemble the 3^rd panel. This panel is made out of 2 pieces. A hip piece that is attached to the main piece. I want the corset to look as much as the example as possible, so I want to assemble this piece using the method shown with the pattern. I believe the English term is Flat Fell seam. (for the record, I am dutch)

After that I stitched the panel and tada! It looks like a regular 3^rd corset panel. This panel I attached to the first two.

Then it was already up to the 4^th panel. (I just love how quickly it looks like a corset when you have the first panels assembled) The 4^th panel has a bone down the centre of the panel and not just at the seamlines, so I went on ahead and stitched that boning channel in using regular bone channel tape.

Please note that I do allow comments underneath this blog post, if the amount of spam gets to high comments will be closed. You are of course allowed to ask questions, please note that with a full time job next to Skeletons it may take a while before I answer.

5 February 202011 February 2020

Ribbon corset, because the edwardians knew what they were doing.

This ribbon corset was a custom order by a lovely customer of mine. She wanted a corset that would give curves but is easy to move around in and was long enough. Beeing an performer and artist she needed something light but still giving shape.

Ribbon corsets have been around for quite some time. As I said on my Instagram posts, those Edwardians knew what they were doing.

Most historical examples of ribbon corsets I have seen date back to around 1900. Sometimes made out of the most beautiful silk ribbons. If you have the time go google some of those examples they will surely inspire you. They say ribbon corsets were made to rest in, or as part of a lingerie set.

Fun fact about a ribbon corset is the shaping. In the case of this corset the centre front, side and centre back pieces are made out of straight strips of satin coutil. The side front and side back are made out of strips of ribbon. The shape therefore comes from the ribbon panels. In fact when you draft the pattern for a ribbon corset you basically make all the shape in two panels per side! Awesome right?!

Anyhow I hope you like It as much as I do, you can order yours here:

And for more Edwardian viewing pleasure, have you seen the shaping of Edwardian skirts? They are awesome, flat at the front and full at the back.

31 December 201931 December 2019

Some epic photography to end the year with.

Mid December I went to The Hague for a collaboration with some amazing people.

Sanne van Bergenhenegouwen asked if I was willing to do the styling of a plus size lady. Because I am plus sized myself, we were in luck and I had an assortment of items to shoot.

The model was Naline, and the makeup was done by Saartje van Hauten (all the way from belgium)

Collaborating with likeminded creative people makes sure that you get amazing results. Somehow creativity with a lot of people together in one room creates more creativity, as if it grows. It certainly was that way for me. Especially when I got the pictures from the shoot.

The first one is almost like a painting. This was the picture the mood board was made for. A photo inspired by the painting of the past. I love the use of light by Sanne in this picture. And the pose is just spot on.

Naline by Sanne van Bergenhenegouwen. MUA Saartje van Hauten

After doing the nymph we decided that in every woman resides a queen, and sometimes she just has to come out!

And last but not least, a lingerie photo. Because lingerie is something you wear for you!

The whole team were total troopers, we did 3 completely different looks but were all onboard with the same ideas.

Naline is wearing the following Skeletons in the Closet items:

Picture 1: Victorian overbust corset in a floral cotton. Pattern matched at the front.

Picture 2 and 3: Vixen plunge corset. Made out of a cotton coutil with hand stitched gold lace and beads. Available in the webshop!

Picture 4: Longline corset/girdle. A lightweight corset made out of a silk front panel, mesh side panels with some lace at the front.

14 December 201926 December 2019

Dutch Masters Underbust

Dutch Masters Corset

This fabric has become a bit of my thing over the past years. I love the colour and print on this cotton fabric.

This corset was made for a lovely experienced tightlacer. This means that the corset is extremely curvy.

When working with a patterned fabric you need to match the pattern or else the entire corset will look like an imbalanced mess. However due to the extremely curvy nature of this corset you cannot match the pattern everywhere, you have to choose where you want the flowers to flow over from one panel to the other, and where you are ok with not making the cut. Also, you have to keep in mind the grain of the fabric you are working with. After all you do not want wrinkles.

All in all, I am quite proud of this corset.

As you may have noticed, although I am not taking on any big orders (I still have my full-time job) I have found some room in my schedule for the occasional corset or bra. Please do understand that I do not wish to have a year fully booked, so I am taking it a season at the time. In a period of 3 months I take on a very limited amount of orders. For this fall we did the Dutch masters bra’s and Moonchild corsets, and for the winter we will open for 2 or so corset orders.

Stay tuned and follow me on Instagram and Facebook if you want to be the first to know. Or even better sign up to my mailing list.

24 May 2019

The naked dress

Last year Fernanda contacted me that she needed a special dress for her beach wedding. She wanted something with an open back and that had the nude gown look. As if you are just wearing a lace dress with nothing underneath.

For a dress like this the fabric makes the dress. So we ordered a lovely lace from a store in the UK. We (or rather I) had a little stress with all the Brexit talk, but Brexit got postponed and I got my fabric in time.

Underneath the lace sits a skin colored fabric. The lace has little insets with tule.

This dress was unlike anything I had ever made before but I really love it, and I hope you do too.

30 October 201830 October 2018

18th century costuming

Salon de la Societe Raffinee, picture by Bart Kools

This autumn we were attending Salon de la Societé raffinee. Organised by my dear friend Shari. A Salon is an event where a Salonière introduces artists to the guests. A place to socialise with friends and imagin that you live in the 18th century. I was honored to be one of the artists who got to display the art of Skeletons in the Closet

For this event I decided to make a new costume for my Husband. Maarten has been looking at an historical example of an 18^th century costume and would have loved to have a costume like that. So we decided to give it a try.

The 18^th century is an era beyond my comfort zone, so this was quite a challenge. This costume had a lot of pieces. A white cotton underskirt. A cotton cravat. Black cotton breeches. An embroidered silk vest and an embroidered green and silver frock coat.

In order to make this project I have purchased an embroidery machine. Via Etsy I bought an embroidery pattern from Art Embroidery designs, Lubia makes the most wonderful historical patterns for embroidery machines! This gives your 18^th century projects a real historical look.

We started from the bottom up, I always work like this. Because if you wear layered clothing it is good to fit each layer over each other, so you don’t get a coat that only fits over a t-shirt but not over a blouse with vest.

The outfit took a total of 50 hours to make. Although the machine does most of the embroidery you have to stay with it. Especially for the vest where the embroidery had 9 different colors.

The Husband did most of the embroidery by himself while I was sewing away on the rest of the outfit.

Salon de la Societe Raffinee, picture by Lux Immortalis

For myself I made a 18^th century fantasy dress. This dress is not historically accurate.

The dress is made out of silk, and has an beaded and embroidered stomacher.

If after seeing these garments you would like to discuss a custom gown or suit, feel free to contact me using our contact form.

Here is also a picture of our booth at the Salon.

7 June 20187 June 2018

Hecate Corset

This style of corset has been in the making for quite a while. As with every new style of Corsetry I do extensive testing before I offer something to the public, so that I am sure my ideas actually work!

The corset is a mix between a longline corset with attached garters and a corset with cups. The cups of this corset are genuine cups with an underwire. The longline points end up in a garter making this corset a true underwear look corset. A corset like this would look amazing under a 50s style dress or a wedding gown!

The corset is made out of my favorite brocade coutil. It has internal boning casings and attached garters.

The cups make sure that the boobs are supported and not pushed up as high as might be with a victorian corset. Therefore this corset might work best under a modern style gown.

When my sister saw a photo of the corset she called it a squit, but I decided to call it Hecate instead.

I hope you like it. If you would like to order a similar corset please contact me.

I had the chance to shoot this corset with an amazing team of Richard Terborg and Nathaly Blue

This sample corset is also available in our webshop!