Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1993 - 45

he staff at the Univetsity
of Washington Costume
Shop is always looking
into new and efficien t
ways to achieve a cotseted
silhouette. Fot acting students, the steel-boned
methods are often heavy and uncomforrable. Traditional boned methods take a
long time and a high degree of skill to
produce. These reasons led us to investigate the use of plastic in place of traditional bones.
We were building a production of The Rover
by Afra Behn and
needed to achieve a
barrel or rounded figure. Our properry area
JOSIE GARDNER, had a surplus of Kydex
plastic, which proved to
JIM W AUFORD,& be the perfect material.
Kydex is a sheet plastic,
LAURIE KURUTZ
often found in a 4' x 8'
sheet for abour $60. However, our pieces
were found at
Boeing Surplus, a manufacPLASTIC
turer's surplus warehouse, for
a fraction of the list price. It
REPLACES
allows a good deal of bendBONE
ing: however, it will break
when
forced. Kydex is graffiOR
ti-proof; paint will not adhere
STEEL
to it. When heated, it can be
shaped quite easily. Other
IN THE
plastics can be tried for this
CONSTRUCTION idea (Lexan, which has similar characteristic, would be a
OFA
good choice).
A traditional corset
CORSETED
was drafted with excess seam
allowance at the sides to allow
SILHOUETIE.
for overlap. (See Figures 1
through 5). This forces the
plastic into a rounded shape necessary for
strength.
Also, by leaving seam
allowance here it becomes alterable. Our
pattern used a center front panel, which

New
Way
to
Corset

can be cur as one section. The back sections, centerback and side-back, were
bag-lined leaving one side open. The
plastic was cut to shape on a bandsaw
and then sanded to a rounded smooth
edge. It was then inserted through this
opening and either machine or hand
sewn together. We were able to use our
walking foot sewing machine with intrinsic thread to sew these pieces; however, a
power machine with a size 22 needle
would do that just as easily.
The center back can be
grommetted using a punch
tool to pierce the plastic
first. No additional reinforcement is required to
secure the grommets.
The straps were riveted
to the back to allow
movement and they tie
in front.
These corsets
are hand-washable.
They are also easily
repairable and they will never permanently bend to a curve or kink as a
steel bone will. Some disadvantages are
that the plastic can break, and, depending upon the thickness, they can be cumbersome. The outstanding advantage is
the limited amount of time they took to
construct. Including drafting the pattern, the corset was completed in less
than a day-and-a-half and we were very
pleased with the shape achieved.
We encourage others to try this
method with stomachers or other corset
styles. They take a minimum skill level
to achieve a maximum of effect.
ffi
Josie Gardner and Laurie Kurutz are
members ofthe University of WflShington
costume shop staff Jim Wauford, formerly
a member ofthe UW staff, was responsible
for the construction ofthe corset illustrated.
This material originally appeared in the
1993 USITT Theatre Technology Exposition catalog.
TD&T

1993 FALL

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