Pattern designer Gretchen Hirsch’s fascination with 1950s styles has served her well. She draws from vintage garments to create her successful Charm Patterns, and that work has led to her extensive experience with constructing fitted bodices.

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Gertie, as she is known to many followers, shares her thoughts on sewing structured dresses, working with boning, and how she has created so many vintage-inspired looks, in this episode of Sewing With Threads.

Boning for Fitted Bodices

“Boning supports the structure of the dress,” she explains. The sewing teacher and author says she’s learned “to be very strategic about when and where to add boning.”

Listen in to find out where Gretchen places boning in a bodice, how long to make the boning, and her thoughts on using it along curved seams. Spiral steel boning is the type she prefers, and she explains why.

Gertie’s tips:

Apply Teflon, or plumber’s, tape to finish the ends on spiral steel boning, rather than using end caps.

Cut spiral steel boning with sturdy cutters instead of metal snips. Her recommended tool: the Greenlee 722 metal cutters.

Test boning placement and length by taping the boning to the seam allowances of your test garment, or muslin.

Structured Bodices Without Boning

Gretchen also talks about what inspired her new book, Gertie’s Charmed Sewing Studio  (Abrams, 2024), and how it is different from her five previous books. The six-chapter hardcover is “more of a narrative slash history book,” she explains. The book discusses six patterns, three of which are new designs with included instructions. In typical Gertie fashion, all are structured garments, but surprisingly, they do not have boning. Their structure is created with lining, fabric, pleats, and darts, she says.

To learn more about the dresses featured in Gretchen’s latest book, her work studio, and even a bit about petticoats, tune in to the podcast. Check out a review of her book here.

You can also follow Gretchen on Instagram at @gertie18.

Articles on creating fitted bodices and working with boning

“Hidden Support,” by Susan Khalje in Threads #145, Oct./Nov. 2009

“Boning – Not Just for Corsets,” by Susan Khalje in Threads #87, March 2000

“A Strapless that Stays Put,” by Kenneth D. King in Threads #46, April/May 1993

“Memories of a Parisian Seamstress,” by Suzanne Pierrette Stern in Threads #40, April/May 1992

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This episode’s sponsor

Join us on an exclusive trip to London in May 2025. Highlights of this tour are a glove-making master class, an embroidery workshop at Hand & Lock, a visit to a renowned theatrical costume house, and a guided tour of Savile Row. We’ll also visit specialty fabric shops—and enjoy afternoon tea at Fortnum & Mason. To find out more, go to ThreadsMagazine.com.