Two questions and a short story on the Letters page this month: how to make a set of the 1660 watered silk stays from the V&A, alternative lacing and where to find colored eyelets, a short story from 1913.

How to make this very unique busk step by step at home with hand tools, which are easily acquired at your local hardware store if you don’t already have them at home.

Sandra Stuart walks you through enlarging a small diagram to the correct size for the creation of a working pattern, using an 1878 original and Photoshop.

Jennifer shows us an intuitive way to take a pattern from an existing corset. Includes pattern & shopping list for a simple, authentic 1910s corset.

Jennifer shows you how to alter the pattern from last month, then sew the corset step by step, using the same vintage techniques as in the original.

Photos, details and a pattern for an 1869 American skeleton corset. It has no fabric between the boning channels, just a few horizontal tapes to hold the bone casings together.