Corset Take 2

[alchemistdoctor]

 Starting off with this video which is a little long, but totally worth watching if you're interested in corsets. 

"Drafting & Fitting Victorian Corset Mockups on an Asymmetrical Figure [Corsetmaking Part 1]" (Watch on YouTube)

And also, this! 

"I Grew Up in a Corset. Time to Bust Some Myths. (Ft. Actual Research)" (Watch on YouTube)

Now onto my own experience.

I also have a curvature to my spine, but I never got into a brace for it. Nonetheless, the corset I have has its ups and downs. Padding is definitely required in some places if I want to have an 'even' silhouette. (I don't much care, so I don't pad.)

Additionally, I found (and was supported by Bernadette in Video 1 above) that if I have my corset laced entirely up so that the boning is against my spine, I am in pain. So, I don't fully tighten. After doing some research on Reddit, other corset wearers, even tight-lacers, have mentioned that it is less about having the corset fully tightened as much as it is about having the laces even - you want your back pieces to be parallel, not in a /\ or \/ shape. So I just give myself some parallel space for my spine, and all is well. However, I do wish I'd ordered a corset a few inches smaller for myself because obviously this means my corset is looser, mostly around the bust area where I wanted a bit more support.

However, it turns out that my breasts don't really mind not being supported just so long as my back has the support it needs -- in other words, I feel very little if my breasts hang naturally, it's my back that needs the extra help standing straight from the imbalance of weight distributed back to front. In fact, I have a grand range of movement of my arms and shoulders that I don't have with a modern bra. 

There is a bit of trouble bending. By which I mean, I bend at the hips or not at all. Additionally, twisting is limited. This means that putting on, say, shoes and socks is done from a seated position with my foot on my knee rather than bending to tie them, and even then I am not terrifically flexible at the hips, so I struggle a little. After looking at others' experiences I found that most of them go by the rule "Shoes first, then corset" -- which makes sense historically, as floors would be cold in non-centrally-heated houses, so getting dressed bottom-up is logical. However, we don't wear shoes in my house, so I do a bit of contorting before leaving for the store. 

Lastly, smoothing undergarments are reasonable if you intend to wear trousers or light skirts with a corset that has any sort of hip section. This is due to the hip flare, which allows for more shape but then can 'drop' to your natural hip where the corset ends. However, I wear boxer briefs for comfort reasons (they're heavenly. Say goodbye to the wedgie) and I just tug the waistband over the corset. Other corset wearers use garter belts or leggings. 

Now that I've figured out how to wear my corset comfortably (no stays against the spine, etc), I honestly really enjoy wearing it. My back appreciates the support, and I don't find breathing difficult, even from my diaphragm, because I'm not tightlacing (except the occasional yawn). An added benefit is that now I can tailor my garments to a known shape, rather than just body measurements. This allows for tighter-fitted garments without worrying about my weight fluctuating by a few pounds. I tried a first attempt on an old shirt, and while I still haven't got a fix for gaping buttons at the breasts (help), I was very pleased with the results, and I'm just gonna wear a tie with it to close the gape from now on. 

Am I a little inspired to make my own corset? Yes. I'd love to have one that is a little more tailored to my particular measurements. There are corset makers who craft bespoke pieces, but they're far, far out of my price range, so I shall have to work with what I have. But I maaay be considering what to do with some scrap denim and canvas this summer once school's out. We'll see. 

Comments

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

I come bearing button help! One of these may work for you. Buttons closer together on the placket. Using darts or other shaping of the shirt so the bosom actually is wide enough without swimming in too much everywhere else. The hidden button placket so the gape is under a privacy screen. And the option that solves even the most endowed tracks of land being given too much vista, the chef's front and thus both moving the buttons out of the valley and putting many layers over the bosom. There's also options of zippers at the back or side, but I figure those are more twisting than the corset makes reasonable.

Hoping one or more of these assists.

[alchemistdoctor]

Thank you! I used darts to make the shirt follow the shape of the corset better around the waist, but I honestly didn't know what to do with the bust. All the sewing advice I could find on darts at the time revolved around tiny breasted folk and I had court the next day and needed a shirt! (I totally went, and just tugged my shirt down discreetly under the desk the whole time I spoke to the judge. Trust me to be more self-conscious of my buttons than anything else.)

I'm going to try the chef's front style on the next shirt, I think, because the hidden button placket (had to look it up) looks too narrow. Unfortunately, I did try on a much larger shirt, and even with a fair amount of 'give' around the breasts, I think my bust shape just tends to pull the two sides apart. I'm a little tempted to see if there's a way I could put an 'inner button' at the nipple-line, like those buttons on trousers that are hidden inside.

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

Yeah, if you don't swim in a shirt, the center placket gives up at a certain amount of projection. The darts for an endowment basically run a line towards the center mass so the material of the front makes a bit of a tent to pup over the breasts. You can also do some nip tuck on the back mid lining each side.

Probably, the best way to do the inner button sibling is give the shirt some detail the sew down for the button can hide under and sculpt the 'tab' so you don't have weird lines. That would be a sorta reverse chef's front.

[alchemistdoctor]

I have a pocket I took off the shirt to do the darts, so my thought was that if I put an inner button in, I could put the tab from the interior of the buttonhole placket, button under the pocket. But I'd have to do a mockup before I know if it works. I've also seen people sew a button in the gap in-between the two existing buttons, but inside the button-hole placket, making a new button-hole on the button side so it's hidden in the shirt.

So much experimenting to do! Luckily this shirt's a charity shop buy so if I muck it up it's not a huge loss.

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

Science! (Make sure to take notes.)

Have you read, The Lost Art of Dress? http://www.professorpski.com is the author's site with more publishing info.

[alchemistdoctor]

I haven't! I'll look into it. It's fascinating how old dress was constructed and any reference is helpful.

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

It is more meta than that, think History of Science for Extension/Home Economics. But the bibliography should route you about to more hands on lines of inquiry.

The author iirc is pretty accomplished herself, and it opened up what questions she searched answers for/made the answers reveal meaningful new questions.

But it does get at things like style versus fashion, and how the modern mode of dressing came to be.

[argentnoelle]

Just chiming in to say that I read the whole book yesterday. Your rec made it sound so interesting, and it really was!

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

Yay!