Steampunk Necktie Corset Dress

Step 6 Boning channels

16.  Stitch both sides together at the top.  Now that you've turned it right-side-out and pressed the back seams down, go ahead and pin the top together again.  Then, stitch the top.  This is the top of your boning channel.  Don't worry that you can see this stitching on the pretty side--we'll deal with that later.

17.  Lay out your boning.  I have lots of boning on hand because I find it difficult to know exactly what lengths I will need.  Once a project is begun, you may find that you'd like to cut an inch off the bottom for proper fit, or that you'd like to lengthen some part of your corset for dramatic effect.  If you ordered your boning based on a pattern suggestion or presumption, you may be ordering more to make up for unforeseen fitting issues.  If you can only afford to purchase what it takes to make the corset, you may want to wait until this step to order your boning.  Only then can you be 100% certain you are ordering the right lengths.  Sure, you'll have to wait a week or two to finish the last steps, but, if you're like me and you're low on funds during these tough times, you might be happy for the cost saving measure.  Buuuut, I digress.
When laying out your boning, a good rule of thumb is one piece of boning per seam, plus more for support.  Because I'm a fairly small person, I don't need ample support and can get away with fewer bones.  You may consider adjusting your boning operation with a similar correlation. 
 I used 1/4" boning for seams but because I didn't use a busk, I used two pieces of 1/2" boning down the front to give it extra stability.  Are you planning on using buttons down the front like me?  Then remember to leave just a teensy bit of room between the center front channels to allow for the easy stitching of buttons.
One last note about layout.  It's helpful to use a piece of boning on either side of your grommets.  Plan accordingly!  If you space your center back boning too closely, you won't be able to fit your grommets in later! 

18.  Mark your channels.  Using graphite/soap/tailor's chalk, mark your boning channels.  I actually kind of skipped this step or, rather, guestimated this step.  I didn't have all the boning lengths I wanted on hand, so I did the best I could and used the seams as my guide rather than actually marking my corset.  Why?  Because I'm lazy sometimes. 

19.  Stitch your channels.  If you chose to follow in my footsteps and NOT mark your boning, you can cheat by first stitching along the seam edges.  Next, use your presser foot as a guide and stitch a hair more than a 1/4".  Easy-peasy.