Tutorial: Faux Corset

If you’ve ever looked up high quality corsets then you’ll find that they are also high in price. I wanted to attend the local Renaissance festival as a fairy this year and pictured a corset to go with my outfit. I decided to use what I know best – craft foam! Sheets of craft foam are so cheap (like less than a $1!) so if I messed up then I wouldn’t feel too bad about it. This tutorial is quite simple, but you will need some basic sewing knowledge. The corset itself doesn’t actually squeeze your waist. It’s more like a belt to be honest. But I think it gives a nice Renaissance look without the uncomfortable feeling a real corset has.

The first thing I did was look up what style of corset I wanted to make. I decided to go with an “under bust” that had a pointed top and bottom. This gives the illusion that it’s a corset rather than if it were just straight across like a belt. I cut my shape out of a sheet of craft foam and used a hole puncher on one edge of each piece. This is where you’ll eventually lace it up. Make sure your holes are big enough for whatever type of string or ribbon you’ll be using. For my decoration I drew swirls with a sharpie first to see a pattern. Then I went over my swirls with hot glue for a 3D effect.

After you’re done with all the hot glue decoration, paint your foam with Gesso. This acts as a primer for your paint. I didn’t put any Gesso on the back of mine, but I would recommend it because it also strengthens the foam. 

Once your Gesso is dry, paint your corset any color you’d like. I was going for a “woodland fairy” look so I decided to make my corset resemble leather. I painted the whole thing brown first, then used a sponge to add the gold and little bits of metallic green highlights.

You’re probably wondering how you’re going to actually *wear* this faux corset! For this I held up my two foam pieces to my stomach and marked where the back edge was on my sides. Then I measured the back of my waist from side to side. Then I was able to cut my fabric and hem the edges.

Since I might want to change out the color of this fabric some day, I decided to glue velcro to the fabric and corset edge. This is also handy because it makes it easier to take your faux corset on and off since you won’t have to undo the lacing.

The lacing is a brown cord I had in my craft drawers, but I think a colorful ribbon would look pretty, too.

And that’s how you make a faux corset! I don’t think anyone would know it’s made from craft foam do you? So very comfortable and versatile!

Coming soon is a tutorial for my flower crown and fairy wings. I made both from easy craft supplies, too!

Update: Here is the Fairy Wing Tutorial! 🙂