Corset help!--Update on Page 2

[Lady Rebecca]

I think most corset patterns call for a removable busk, if you use one. Usually, there's a busk pocket in the front, and a lacing hole in both the fabric and the top of the busk, so you tie it to stay in. That way, it can be removed when you want to wash it.

[Anna Iram]

Yep, that's how mine is put in. There's probably much prettier busks out there, but with a little sanding of the corners this will do fine. I've never been soaked to the skin when I've worn my busk, and truth is I rarely wear it now as I prefer to be a bit more comfortable, but you could try a varnish. Worse comes to worse just make another trip to Home Depot!  I also used the cable ties in that corset and it works great and no worries about the steel rusting. Something to consider maybe if rain is a usual part of your day.

The corset style bodice I'm wearing in my avatar is steel boned. I didn't make this one, but it's along the lines of a Moresca. You can see it's also front opening. It keeps me just as smooth in front as the busk does I think. I really wonder if under a gown you'd really be able to tell the difference.

[Kathleen MacLeod]

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone! I'm going to give cable ties a try, and I'll be buying the fabric tomorrow. I haven't decided yet if I'm doing front or back lacing, but I guess that can wait a day or two.

The corset style bodice I'm wearing in my avatar is steel boned. I didn't make this one, but it's along the lines of a Moresca. You can see it's also front opening. It keeps me just as smooth in front as the busk does I think. I really wonder if under a gown you'd really be able to tell the difference.

I've been having trouble with the lower V of the bodice of my gown kind of bending up from the rest of my the bodice. I thought that it was because my corset wasn't holding me in properly, but I figured out today that it's because my underskirt poofs out underneath it and the boning in the gown is too wimpy to hold its shape against it. So I'm not as worried now about the busk as I was before

[Kathleen MacLeod]

Okay, a couple new problems!

1. I bought cable ties today. I totally forgot to look for a specific brand! I bought half inch Gardner Bender ones. They seem pretty bendable to me. Are they all going to be pretty bendable, or do I need to take them back and look for different ones? Has anyone ever tried the steel ones?

2. Here's my new lacing idea. What if I put laces in both the front and the back? I'll lace the front all the way closed and then have somebody lock lace the back for me. Then I'll just be able to get in and out by lacing the front closed and having it fit right. Will that work?

[gem]

Getting the right cable ties is *very* important. Unfortunately, it's pretty much impossible to tell just from the package if what you're getting is going to be supportive enough.

First, make sure you have the right width (see here. You'll need the ones on the left.)

Second, check out this older thread about cable tie tensile strength.

Of course, "support" is relative. If you're slim and not terribly busty (and the corset doesn't have much work to do), you might do absolutely fine with the ties you have.

[Queen Genevieve]

Hack saw blades, and grind off the teeth

[Adriana Rose]

I use the Gardner Bender ones, mine are black are yours? But I use them in a bodice vs a corset.

[Kathleen MacLeod]

gem, the ones that I bought say 175 pounds! I'm small in the waist and rib cage but I'm pretty busty, so I'm going to need more support. I guess it has just occurred to me to ask why we use cable ties in the first place--cable ties are made to be bendable to go around cables, so why are we trying to use them as stiffeners to hold garments straight up and down?

Adriana, mine are white. I think I'd like them just fine if I was using them in a bodice; I just need lots of support for the ladies in a corset

[gem]

175 lb tensile strength will be just fine. That's what's in mine, and like you I'm small but busty.

Remember, a little flexibility in a corset is not necessarily a bad thing, particularly when you're shaped like we are. If it were absolutely rigid, you wouldn't be able to adjust anything, or have it shape to fit you perfectly when you lace it up. You also want to be able to move around comfortably, and it's nice when the corset can kind of conform to your body (but not so much it doesn't support you).

[Kathleen MacLeod]

I'm probably just being too picky. Sorry, it's my first corset; I'm nervous!!! Do the cable ties eventually conform to your shape and hold it after you take it off? The corset I used all this season was a lingerie corset from Frederick's (I know, mistake number 1) and the plastic boning eventually bent to my shape. After that, if I didn't get it in exactly the right spot, the boning dug into the back of my hips all day long. Is this a possibility with the cable ties, too, or are they sturdier than that?

Also, what is the purpose of the tabs at the waist? I get that if it was an outer garment they'd be pretty, but what's the point of having them on an undergarment?

[Valencia]

The tabs at the waist support the skirts, and also help the corset from digging into your waist.

Each individual bone doesn't necessarily have to have the rigidity you would think; corsets were also "boned" with reed, which is fairly flexible. A corset's support is a combination of the strength of the fabric; the boning material, which both holds the fabric straight and also that provides support; and the lacing of the whole thing around the body, which also adds support. I think for most of us who are intent on making our own corsets and bodices, finding the best combination is a matter of trial and error. Don't be afraid to try different things, different amounts of bonings, different types of bonings.  I made my first few corsets with just duck canvas and zip ties, and experimented with amounts of boning, lacing position, and so on. And now that I've done that, I'm getting ready to make a new one using reed, just to see. It's part of the fun. : )

[gem]

I've heard differing accounts about the tabs. The tabs on this pattern we're talking about (Simplicity 2621) are applied and unboned, as opposed to being integral and boned (see Lady Rebecca's corset for the latter), and I've heard people say that they don't support/protect the hips as well as boned tabs; but others disagree. One of the very few extant corsets from this period has applied tabs, however (a recreation is shown in the book The Tudor Tailor), so like everything else in this craft, YMMV!

[Lady Rebecca]

I think the boned tabs make the corset much more comfortable. That way, the corset rides gently over your hips, and you will never have the problem of the corset digging into your skin. I highly recommend them.

[gem]

Kathleen, here's a picture of the very slight curve given by my pink corset:



It shapes itself to *fit* me, but springs right back to flat immediately after unlacing.  Also, the front "point" (which is pretty rounded, actually) comes down fairly low in front, and is so heavily boned, that it lies very flat against the belly and the point definitely doesn't flip up.

[Kathleen MacLeod]

UPDATE: So I've cut and sewn and I'm just finishing up boning the channels. This takes me almost to when I need to start grommets, and I need opinions. I looked at the corset generator that Lady Rebecca recommended (thank you!), and what I've got so far is pretty similar to this one http://www.elizabethancostume.net/corsets/corset1.html. I planned on doing a front and back lacing corset with the normal criss-cross pattern, but then I saw this one she made: http://www.elizabethancostume.net/effigy.htm. What do we think about spiral lacing? If I do it spiral in the front, do I have to do it spiral in the back, too? And if I do end up doing spiral, is there a trick to spacing my lacing holes properly?