A four day corsetry masterclass in London. Five people. You draft your own pattern, fit it on a real body, and leave with a fully boned corset mockup that fits, and the pattern behind it.
5 to 8 November 2026 · William Gee, London · Five places · £995, all Materials included (The Resource Books are not included)
You can follow a pattern. You can sew a clean seam, use boning, finish an edge properly. You have made corsets before and they looked right flat on the table.
Then it goes on a body. It does not sit properly. There are drag lines, wrinkles, ripples. There is spillage at the bust or gaping along the top edge. It digs in at the ribcage or the hips. It rides up the moment she moves.
You know it is wrong. You do not know what to change, or where, or why.
That gap is not your fault. It is what almost every route into corsetry leaves out.
Commercial patterns are drafted to standard sizes, anything from a 6 to a 22. Nobody is a standard size. You are cutting a shape that was never made for the person wearing it and hoping to fix it later.
University teaches construction in a room of twenty. Online courses cannot fit you at all, because fitting is the one thing that does not travel through a screen. Books show you a finished corset. They do not show you what to do in the moment the mockup goes on and the fit is wrong.
So you guess. You recut the mockup. You recut it again. Four mockups in you have lost a week and a lot of coutil, and you still could not explain what you changed, or why it worked, or why it did not.
Nobody in a professional workroom works like that. A corset is fitted once, maybe twice, and then it is made. That is the actual skill, and it is the one almost nobody is teaching.
No pattern is handed to you. You draft your own block from your own measurements, so you understand every line in it and can use it again on anybody.
A full day goes on fitting alone, which is the part that normally gets rushed or skipped entirely. Reading the body, finding the drag lines, understanding what each one is telling you, and making the correction with confidence rather than by trial and error.
Then you refit, so you see exactly what your corrections did. That is the loop the industry runs on, and it is the loop you leave being able to run yourself.
Five places means Amédine is at your table, not at the front of a room.
You draft a basic body block from your own measurements, then develop it into a corset block. Panel distribution, waist reduction, shaping, tension mapping, seam lines, grain, balance points and boning placement.
A calm, technical day, and the one that builds the engineering mindset the rest of the course runs on. You finish it holding a clean, accurate pattern ready to cut.
You cut your mockup in coutil using sustainable seam allowances, assemble the panels, press and stabilise the structure, sew your boning channels, then cut your spiral boning and insert it. The piece is prepared for fitting with a centre front zip and a lacing panel at the centre back.
A hands on day, moving between the iron, the cutting table and the machine. This is where the internal architecture of a corset stops being theory.
The mockup goes on a body. You watch how it settles, shifts and supports. You find the drag lines, the tension points and the imbalance, and you learn to read what each one is telling you.
Then you pin, mark and adjust, and take those corrections back to the paper. You redraft the panels that need it and apply the alterations to the mockup so it can be refitted.
This is the day everything connects, and it is the reason this course is four days and not two.
You refit the corrected piece and see precisely what your corrections did. You finalise the panels, insert and cut the last of the boning, secure the top and hemline, and refine the silhouette and the comfort.
You finish with a fully boned, cleanly finished corset mockup and a pattern that has been proven on a body.
In professional practice, an experienced maker can cut straight into fashion fabric, like for every corset I make for the Royal Valley and Opera.
But that confidence is built, not assumed. It comes from understanding how the fit is solved, how the pattern behaves, and where corrections need to happen before the boning goes in.
This mockup is where you learn to make those calls — so that in your own future practice, you’ll have the confidence to cut straight into fashion fabric when the moment calls for it.
Yours will be fully boned, laced, fitted twice and finished cleanly. It is a real, wearable corset in coutil. What it is not is the final piece in silk, and that is by design, because the four days are spent on the part that most people never learn.
You leave with:
The mockup is what you take home. The pattern and the method are what you keep.
Amédine is a bespoke dress, costume and corset maker working in London. She makes and bespoke fits professionally for the Royal Ballet and Opera, English National Ballet and West End productions.
Her work includes new productions for the Royal Ballet and Opera, among them Semele, co produced with the Paris Opera, and the rework of costumes for Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet and for The Sleeping Beauty at English National Ballet. She has worked on historical reproduction for the West End production By Royal Appointment, and with photographer Kevin Birch on Mona Lisa, Girl With The Pearl Earring and Aubrey Beardsley. She has a screen credit on Kingslayer and has collaborated with Goldfrapp and scenic designer Agnes Lennon.
What she teaches across these four days is what she uses at work. The fitting techniques come out of elite ballet and opera costume departments, where a corset has to survive being danced in for three hours. Several of the methods are ones she has developed and refined in her own practice, and they are not written down anywhere.
My name is Laura Andriuskeviciute, and I am a costume trainee currently building my experience across theatre and film productions.
I had the pleasure of learning from Amédine Bello for nearly two years, and I can proudly say she is one of the most inspiring and knowledgeable teachers I have had the privilege to work with. Amédine takes the time to explain and demonstrate couture garment-making techniques with exceptional clarity and structure. Her teaching goes far beyond the technical approaches and she encourages creative thinking, precision, and problem‐solving, always adapting her guidance to the project and the person she is mentoring.
Amédine is a deeply knowledgeable and meticulous costume maker with a genuine passion for her craft. She creates a supportive and encouraging learning environment, where curiosity and commitment are valued as highly as skill. By combining technical expertise with patience and a personal approach, she teaches in an engaging and deeply instructive way.
Through her mentorship, I have developed advanced practical skills as well as a stronger sense of professionalism, confidence, and care in my work. Her influence has shaped the way I approach costume making and continues to inspire me as I build my career.
Laura Andriuskeviciute
Hey Amedine 😘
I just wanted to send you over a message to say thank you so much for altering my dress for me. It fitted like a glove! I really appreciate all of the time you took to measure me and ask all of the questions of where I want the dress to sit and how I want to feel when it’s on.
When you took my jeans up for me, and the detail that you went into on the waist hips leg etc, I knew I would have to come back to you for my dress! When you explained about the arms of the dress and how you would take it in it made so much sense as to how it was going to fit and it couldn’t have been more perfect for the day 😊 I also just want to say that seeing all of your lovely work that you do and the time, effort and passion you put into all of your pieces makes me want to use your services even more because I know how much you love it and the quality of your work is always amazing 😻
Thank you again and looking forward to bringing in some more pieces soon! Xx
Every material you need across the four days is included in the price. You bring your own basic tools and nothing else.
Provided
Bring with you
Not included
And afterwards
Recent graduates, working professionals who want to develop, and experienced hobbyists.
You will get the most from these four days if you can already draft and read a basic pattern, have done bespoke pattern cutting, have made pattern amendments, and have some understanding of corsetry fundamentals and garment alteration. You do not need to have made a corset before.
Five places is a small room. One person at the wrong level makes four days harder for everybody in it, so it is worth being direct.
This is not the course for you if you have only ever worked from bought patterns, have never drafted a basic block, have never done bespoke pattern cutting or made pattern amendments, have limited sewing skills, have never worked with boning, or have never made a garment alteration.
It is also not a ready to wear corset course. You are not leaving with a finished, lined corset in fashion fabric. You are leaving with the pattern and the fitted structure that let you go and make that, knowing it will fit.
And it is a room where people fit each other. You will be fitted in front of the group and you will put your hands on somebody else’s work, with Amédine guiding every fitting. If that is not something you would be comfortable with, this is not the right course for you.
If any of that is not where you are yet, please do not book. Get in touch about one to one tuition and come to this when it will land properly.
Dates: Thursday 5 to Sunday 8 November 2026
Times: 10am to 5pm daily, with a half hour lunch
Venue: William Gee Ltd, 2a Forest Road, London E8 3BY
Places: Five
Price: £995, all materials included
Payment: Paid in full at booking
Five is the size of the room, not a marketing number. It is what makes a full day on fitting possible, and it is why Amédine is at your table rather than at the front.
This is the only masterclass running this year.
Bookings close on Sunday 25 October so that materials can be ordered and cut for each person before the class. Once they close, they close.
£995, all materials included. Five places. 5 to 8 November, in London.
Not sure whether your level is right for it? Message Amédine and she will tell you honestly.
What level do I need to be at?
You need a solid understanding of basic pattern making. If you can read and draft a pattern you have what you need to get full value from the four days, even if you have never made a corset before. If you are not there yet, the list above is honest about it, and one to one tuition is the better route for now.
Whose body are we fitting on?
Yours, and each other’s. You are fitted in the mockup you have made, and you take part in fitting the others in the room, with Amédine guiding every fitting.
This is deliberate, and it is one of the reasons four days with five people is worth more than a bigger class. You will see five fittings rather than one. You will watch problems appear on bodies that are not yours, and hear the reasoning out loud each time. That is how it works in a professional workroom and it is very difficult to learn any other way.
There is a screen to change behind. If you would not be comfortable being fitted in front of the group, this is not the right course for you, and it is better to know that now.
What if I do not finish in four days?
Four days is the right amount of time to do this without rushing, and the class is paced to keep everybody moving. Amédine is with you throughout to troubleshoot and keep you on track. If you are behind at the end of Sunday, you leave with your corrected pattern and you will know exactly what is left and how to do it.
Will I leave with a finished corset?
You will leave with a fully boned, fitted corset mockup in coutil, made from your own pattern and finished cleanly. It is wearable. It is not the final piece in fashion fabric, and it is not lined. What it gives you is the pattern and the fit solved, so that the final piece can be cut with confidence.
Do I need to bring a machine?
No. Machines, irons and all specialist equipment are provided. Bring your own basic pattern cutting and sewing tools, listed above.
Can I pay in instalments?
No. The masterclass is £995 paid in full at booking, which secures both your place and your materials.
What if I need to cancel?
More than 30 days before, full refund less a £95 administration fee. Between 15 and 30 days, fifty per cent. Inside 14 days there is no refund, because your materials have been ordered and cut and the place cannot be filled.
At any point you can transfer your place to somebody else at no cost.
How do I get there, and is there anywhere to eat?
William Gee is in Dalston in east London and it is easy to reach. Dalston Junction is a two minute walk. Dalston Kingsland, Hoxton and Haggerston are eight to ten minutes, Shoreditch High Street is close by, and there are frequent buses. There are cafés, supermarkets and shops all around it for lunch and coffee.
You will also be working inside one of London’s oldest haberdashers, supplying the trade for over a century. Most people find something they want to take home.
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