After my first attempt with the corset for the Breaking Ground Tour, I knew I had to try again.

So this time, I tried Lekala Patterns. Lekala Patterns is a custom pattern company. You give them your measurements and they draft the pattern for you. They use height, full bust, underbust, waist, hip and full hip to draft your pattern.

I actually attempted one of their free patterns a while ago without any success. BUT, I was willing to try again. Especially since they had a few corset patterns to pick from.

I used Corset Pattern 5359 to start with. Inputted my measurements, Height 61". Bust 39". Underbust 32". Waist 31". Hip 38.5". Full hip 39.5. There is the option to make a few adjustments, like waist height, but your options are low, regular or high, which are obviously not precise adjustments. They do have pictures that give you a general idea, but without knowing what their "regular" lengths were I did not adjust any of these at all.

If I've said it once, I've said it a million times. I'm a woman with a big bust. So you can't make me a top pattern based off of my full bust. My body doesn't work that way. Unfortunately, this method uses your full bust to get your shoulder widths. <sigh>. Needless to say, shoulder fit=bad.

AND, fitting the shoulders on a pattern is WAY harder than fixing the bust. But I attempted it anyway.

On the other side of that, from the bust down, widths are perfection. And this is by far the best princess seam I've ever had for my bust.

Here's the problems I've run into.
#1- The bust point is about 1" too low. I have a large bust. My bust point is not normally too high if you adjust for my shorter stature. Supposedly this was supposed to adjust for my height, but it sure doesn't feel like it.
#2- As part of the bust point being too low, the armscyes are HUGE. This is meant to be lined, but I think it would be better to finish the armscyes with bias tape. It would give not only the shoulder more width, but it would save me from having to extend out the entire armscye.
#3- The overall side seam is short. I extended this out 2" and did not hem the bottom. That reaches my high hip now. The line drawings give the impression that the bodice is longer than the natural waist.
#4- The neckline is VERY low. Again, I think using bias on the neckline would add the extra width without having to extend it out myself.

If you're looking for instructions, this is NOT the place for you. There were only 10 steps to the instructions for this pattern. They weren't full sentences and there definitely were NOT photos to walk you along. On the plus side, you can see the instructions BEFORE you buy the pattern.

I had hoped this pattern would include the placement for the eyelet holes, but just like it didn't tell you what size eyelets to buy, or how much fabric or cord you need, you're sort of on your own there. That wasn't life threatening or anything.

Even though my experience wasn't perfect, I still think I might give Lekala another try. Why?
#1- this did save me a crap ton of time on shortening the waist and blending sizes.
#2- no FBA. This is the biggest time spent for me on patterns.
#3- instant gratification.

But, this won't become a new favorite of mine for everyday. Mostly because my measurements change frequently, and you only get 1 size. So yes for a special occasion item, but no for everyday unless your measurements are very stable.

You might be thinking the Breaking Ground Tour left me with a whole lot of failure, and you'd be right. But I'm still super glad I joined and tried something new. At the very least, I indulged my love for the laced corset look and now that I've got this pattern fitted mostly properly, I'm ready to #makeallthecorsets. Plus, I've learned a lot along the way!
Anne-Mari Sews, Tales of a Tester, Sewing By Ti, Musings of A Seamstress, Harper + Lu, Sewing A La Carte, Sprouting Jube Jube, Lulu & Celeste