This month in Letters, Questions and Answers:
- Tilia asks how the bottom front panels of a corset should fit
- Jane wonders about the different names for corsets
- The Editor asks for help on several upcoming articles.
Can You Help?
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you can help!
Do you read and write Russian? We're looking for someone with these skills to interview a Russian corsetmaker for an upcoming interview.
Zuzana, who lives in the Czech Republic, is working on an article to examine grommets from various suppliers, hand setting tools, making pictures of how which tool works with which grommet, how the dies shape influence the result, how the eyelets' material and size influence the setting of the eyelet.
She needs somebody with mainly US available grommets and setters. Like ones from Farthingales, Richard the Thread and other companies. She has grommets from LORD, Prym, Le Prevo, Richard the Thread, some from China, and Atwells. However, if you have a press, she would appreciate samples of those grommets set with those as she doesn't have one.
She needs to test other "famous" brands, so if you have other types and would be willing to do some test samples and send them to her at her cost, that would be great.
The samples would just be made by setting the grommets into fabric with various tools and marking which company they are from and tool used, (about 30 minutes of work).
The shipping time from the US to CZ takes about 3 weeks, so she would need the samples mailed by June 30th.
Tilia asks
For the fit of the bottom front panels: what exactly is a good fit?
I've made only one corset so far and while it follows my tummy well, this perhaps isn't what it's supposed to do. For the tummy is it supposed to follow the body or should it be taken is so that it's straight?
Hello Tilia,
A good fit is the fit that is comfortable on your body and functions well with the cut of the outer garment. The tummy area may be curved or straight depending on the era the corset pattern is from.
If you are making an Edwardian era corset then the fit will be straight down the front over the belly. Current fashions tend to be slim through the belly so you may want to aim for a straighter fit if you are wearing the corset with the latest fashion. Good luck on your next corset!
Jane writes:
Please can you explain the different names for corsets? Does an underbust just go to under the breast mound or to the nipple level? What is the difference between an underbust and a waist/waspie?
I have a limited knowledge of waspies, but as I understand it a waspie/wasp waist generally refers to a silhouette which mimicked the shape of a wasp - a sharply cinched waistline which was starkly contrasted against the bust and hips. It was popular at various times during the 19th and 20th centuries. You can have waspie corsets which can be either over or underbust and which provide a dramatic reduction at the waistline. You can also have waist cinchers which look a bit like a large belt. They provide reduction and shaping at the waist only. Often these cinchers are called waspies.
The issue is confused a little because people often use the term waspie to refer to both corsets and waist cinchers.
Hello Jane,
I would define and underbust corset as one that covers the body from just below the breast tissue to the anywhere on hip. So the top edge would go no higher than the underwire of a brassiere, and the bottom edge covers the hip. That edge could cover just the top of the hip bone or drop to the top of the thigh, but the hip is the anchor point. A waist cincher, or waspie, isolates the waist area from above the hipbone to below the bust. The top edge may not be as high as on an underbust corset, and the bottom edge does not cover the hip.
I hope this helps!
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