Corset pattern drafting is a real challenge... and it might have to do with the pattern itself or the lacing style. Corsets are definitely best when laced to the center with *two* separate laces.. so that the hips/waist and the bust/waist each have their own tension. This helps adjust for the flesh displacement and keeps from tension/support being lost at the top (bust) or bottom (hips). Also. it may be how the bust-cup is formed and attached to the busk. Since busks are flat/straight, it is a bit o' magic that allows the breasts to get their lift and not fall south into the gap that may be created by the underbust space as the busk rides the silhouette which can let the body slump
( ... )
Long busks travel over the breasts... however, if a woman has large breasts they have trouble "taking the curve" when it comes to following from underbust to overbust... hence "the gap" that breasts may slouch into. Bras with underwires, for instance, are supposed to ride the ribcage and the front ends are supposed to sit *against* the skin at the breastbone...however most women do not wear bras that fit, and so the underwires ride OUT from the body in front, which makes large breasts "pool" in the cups instead of being supported by the cups
( ... )
I found this pic on wikipedia which (to me) shows a badly fitting corset where there is no definition of the bust area from the underbust/waist
( ... )
Somewhere on this community (I think you'll be going back to the 2012 time zone...) there was an excellent post about this - I think the OP was Cathy Hay, but she used a different name...)
Anyway, the long and short is (if I can recall correctly) to add more room/ease (if you can speak of ease in a corset) in the upper part of the panels at the side of the body.
Do you remember the name, or the name of the article? I'm not entirely sure what to look for.. haha So you're saying to add ease to the top of the corset to fix the back fat? Wouldn't there be even less bust support?
Greetings! I'm very, very late to this conversation, so please forgive me my tardiness.
I'm pretty sure it was Cathy Hay, and the entry helenatroy is referring to was in her journal, at one point under the name "harmonhay and more recently under peacockdress. The thrust of what helenatroy is and Cathy was saying is this, that when you cinch in the waist of a corset with an hourglass figure---more or less an hourglass, anyway---that displaced flesh, even on a very slender person, has to go somewhere, and where it goes is up around the shoulder blades, resulting in "back fat," or down over the abdomen, hips and buttocks, depending on its original distribution in the case of the lower body
( ... )
I see! I've always wondered about the amount of ease in the corset. In drafting patterns, do you know how much ease is added around the ribs to create certain silhouettes? Assuming it begins as just an absolutely straight line from the waist to the underbust, at what point does the additional ease cause the corset to go from being a conical, to a hourglass, or cupped rib? I was thinking of doing test corsets of increasing ease to figure it out, but perhaps asking might me more efficient.
Comments 27
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Anyway, the long and short is (if I can recall correctly) to add more room/ease (if you can speak of ease in a corset) in the upper part of the panels at the side of the body.
Reply
So you're saying to add ease to the top of the corset to fix the back fat? Wouldn't there be even less bust support?
Reply
I'm pretty sure it was Cathy Hay, and the entry helenatroy is referring to was in her journal, at one point under the name "harmonhay and more recently under peacockdress.
The thrust of what helenatroy is and Cathy was saying is this, that when you cinch in the waist of a corset with an hourglass figure---more or less an hourglass, anyway---that displaced flesh, even on a very slender person, has to go somewhere, and where it goes is up around the shoulder blades, resulting in "back fat," or down over the abdomen, hips and buttocks, depending on its original distribution in the case of the lower body ( ... )
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment