Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Spiraling

I'm won't lie. This post is going to be a little bit technical. But I'm aiming to throw in a bit of pithy philosophy as I go, in the event that it will appeal to more than 3 people.

OK, elephant in the room time, I'm here to tell you about spiral steel boning. More specifically, it's about cutting the boning wire and affixing those little caps on the end.

To remind you, this is the boning:

These are the caps:

And this is the type of tool I used to cut the boning:

Outrageously, I got my clippers (Scott calls them nips) from Leather and Sewing Supply for $4.50 (?!); the brand is utterly local. The company that makes the tool is called Can-Pro Canada (I know, ridiculous name) and, if I'm not mistaken, my gizmo is made in Etobicoke (the outer edge of Toronto). I searched high and low for a photo. (Of course, I'm too lazy to actually take one.) But I don't know how likely it is that you'll be able to get the Can-Pro brand if you live out of the city. Point is, you want nips that have that type of head on it.

Why is this relevant? Well, a lot of people will tell you that cutting the steel is very tricky. Gertie (and I think we can agree the woman is a pioneer) posted a video demonstrating the cutting process, a while back. Thing is, this video kind of freaked me out. It made the cutting - to me - look rather challenging. But, trust me, if you use the type of clippers I've shown in the photo above (not that brand, specifically), the spiral cuts really easily.

Special Secret Tip!: More to the point, the guy at Leather and Sewing Supply actually showed me how to cut with minimal effort. Because the wire is in spirals, if you clip half of any circle, it will sever the link between the two sides of wire. That means you don't need to cut clean through a quarter inch of metal. You only need to clip a couple of slender wires and voila!

Now For the Caps: A lot of people will also tell you that affixing the caps is even more difficult than dealing with the wire. In truth, they're kind of right, but I have a philosophy about this. (Disclaimer: It's my extremely-handy husband's philosophy - I'm merely buying into it.)

To affix the caps - and you have to, or the raw wire will trash your fabric - you will need little needle-nose pliers (called jewelers pliers). Hopefully, you have a life-partner that has every type of pliers on the planet. If not, just go to the hardware store and explain yourself. These things are standard issue.

Step 1: Put the cap on the raw wire end and push it down. Hold it gently with your finger as you use the pliers to smush against the wide side (along the profile of the 1/4" wire). Don't do this too high up. You don't want to crush the tip out of shape or you won't be able to keep it right up against the tip of the spiral steel boning.

Step 2: Now, against the narrow, i.e.skinny, side, gently use the pliers to smush the metal in.

Step 3: Repeat steps 1 and 2 until you have the stupid thing affixed. As you press along the width, the ends of the clips will move away from the wire. As you press the ends towards the wire, the tip will try to lift. (Takes a couple of minutes, i.e. 2-5.) Every time you think it's fixed, the cap will shift. It will aggravate you and, likely, make you question your place in the universe.

Step 4: Meditate on the nature of the activity to prevent yourself from freaking out (as you imagine that it's never actually going to work). As you gently mold the cap against the spiral, you are actually metal-working. Optimally, a machine would do this for you, and it would apply pressure to all sides of the cap on the spiral in the same proportions at the same time. Alas, you are not a machine. So you need to bring zen to the act of pushing one way, then the other, then another, until you've mushed that thing well on. It will work. Don't panic. Keep trying. Be prepared to throw out a few caps. It's all cool.

What has the world come to, I ask you, when sewing involves pliers and wire cutters? If you think of it as carpentry, it actually seems less scary, somehow.

When first I saw Gertie's post about boning, I thought: There is NO WAY I will ever be able to do this. I'm happy to tell you that I've reconsidered, and not because I'm any more skilled, but because I've decided to just take it one step at a time. It's not rocket science (she says, not having actually completed the boned bodice). When you make any garment, you follow many processes. One leads to the next. This is simply an additional step - or three.

Note to reader: I'm getting myself into the "take the long road" tailoring frame of mind.

I cannot improve upon Gertie's tutorial. It's excellent. All I can add is a bit of info about my own experience. But, peeps, inasmuch as I am a sewing novice, in the scheme of things, let me encourage you! If I can do this, you can too. And I intend to do this.

Peace out.

23 comments:

  1. I have to do this at work all the time. If you dip the end of the cut spiral boning in some E6000 glue before you cap the end it goes on quite easily. I also use two sets of pliers at the same time- one set in one hand to grip the edges of the cap in while the set in the other (dominant) hand pushes the round part of the cap in and flat. That way the cap doesn't shift back and forth. You can also cut bra underwires down with the cutters and use the glue to recap them. They just have to dry for 6-8 hours before you push them back in the casings.

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    1. What awesome info! I love that the glue helps to stick it all together 0 and that bot glue and cutters work on bra wires! Thank you for this comment.

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  2. I think this is the beauty of sewing. No matter how difficult anything is, it's really just one stitch at a time. If you can understand what the next stitch is going to be you are doing just fine.

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  3. It's SO true. I constantly remind myself of this.

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    1. I agree. Sometimes we get fazed if we look at the process as a whole. It seems overwhelming. But if we just go one step at a time, before you know it, you've done it. And learned new skills in the process.

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    2. It is a matter of everything being ok as long as you don't look to the end of the road. One block at a time!

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  4. If you use just standard pliers, could you crimp the middle section first and have it be on tightly while you crimp the sides? I would think standard pliers would be less fiddly than needle nose ones, but I may not be visualizing how this works correctly either...

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    1. You could use standard pliers but they usually have grooves in the pinchers, which might be a bit rough on the delicate(ish) caps. Because the caps are small, the larger pliers might not be as malleable. But by all means, it's possible.

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  5. I hope this process goes well for you, K!

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  6. What you wrote makes sense to me, as does using the glue and two hands/two pliers. I've done that with other things. I'm waiting for the results.

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    1. I really hope this works. I'd love for something so technical to be really doable too.

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  7. For the hardware store averse, I used needle nose pliers and nippers that I bought at a jewelry/beading store. Somehow thinking of this as a jewelry rather than carpentry project made it a bit less daunting for me. ;-)

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    1. Thanks for this comparison! I have never made jewelry, nor have I done carpentry (so what do I know). The reason I think of carpentry is because that's a craft I associate with tools. Also, as far as carpentry goes, I imagine this activity is as easy as it gets :-)

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  8. Good luck! Just think, once you've gone through all of this, you will have gained knowledge that you can draw on and build on in the future. I've never seen steel boning before. Are there any advantages over other types of boning? Can it be washed?

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    1. I believe it can be washed. It's stainless. But I will likely dry clean this item since it's complex on just about every level - fabric, techniques etc. I don't know enough about boning to really answer the question, though I've heard that plastic boning does not compare - although there are some really good plastic bones too, apparently. I'll need to provide more feedback as I have more experience!

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  9. I'm not so much into the boning, as I don't like to feel stiff or constricted in my clothing. But the tools - now you've got my attention!!

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    1. I don't know if I'm going to like it - but you know I don't mind under bust tightness. Thing is, the area on my body that needs, ahem, reining in, is below the waistband. It's the very lowest part of my abdomen. So this may have the impact of showing up the lump below my navel as it curtails my (slender) upper waist that much more. Hmmm... It's an experiment.

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  10. Thanks for this wonderful and informative blog post! I love it!

    I have to admit, I'm not even close to being able to do this (yet) - but I do love reading about your trials and tribulations!

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    1. Pammie: Glad you find it useful. And, one day you're going to try it. Just like I'm trying it now.

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  11. The only thing I know about stainless steel is that chlorine bleach will corrode it.

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