We all use our hands in frightening ways. If we could prevent others from injury and share our corset maker's care secrets, this might be the place.
If this topic is too over-the-edge in terms of liability to become it's own forum section, (which it may or may not be, but I'm from New York, so there you go!) then for anyone who reads this:, a word to the wise: take care of your self (especially your hands, wrists, shoulders and back) and pay attention. It's all fashionable fun and games until your hands stop working.

Kind of a gripe of mine this one - So many people I know see what I do and assume that because I can do it, anyone can. Well - yes they can. but that doesn't mean you don't have to think about what you're doing.
Because I have made a LOT of mistakes in my time, I'd rather list the things I can think of in the hope that although some people will think"that would only happen to an idiot" some will think "I had not even considered that a danger"

With corsets there are a lot of things to make dangerous mistakes with. As with any sewing things like proper lighting, seating, good scissors, a worktop at the right height all need to be considered to avoid arthritis etc, but there are so many more things to consider which are specific to corsetry as well.
I use a drill press for some of what I do - that is a dangerous tool in itself.
An awl to put in a busk or eyelets - I always joke that mine is a shiv and I have a nasty scar on one of my fingers from where I was putting in eyelets on my knee (!) to prove it. Lucky my finger was behind the corset because otherwise I could have hit an artery in my leg.
I don't use them, but unpickers can be nasty.
Hitting a bone or the side of the busk when on the machine - broken needles are never fun.
Splinters from spiral steel - I've had one of those embedded in my fingertip before, and that was NOT fun to remove.
Flat steel unfurling when you have a roll of the stuff can be nasty if the raw end catches you - there's some force behind it.
Bolt cutters/ tin snips
Putting in eyelets with a press - myself and my partner have both caught our fingers in that and it's pretty heavy duty. End up with a lovely semi circular chunk of missing skin.

I could probably think of more.
And although this may seem stupid to some people, three are a LOT more issues I haven't listed (I didn't exactly elaborate on the "long term" health issues like making sure your chair is adjustable)

So yeah- brilliant idea for a topic on here, and maybe even an article?

Its been a while since we had an article on corset making safety, maybe its time for another.... If anyone feels like writing one, let me know!

I don't know that we need a whole forum for the topic, but a thread would not be a bad thing. I'll move this over to one of the other forums.

A trade arrangement I was working out with a friend really got me thinking about injury lately. I was trading my corsetry skills for her massage therapy skills which I was desperately needing for a repetitive motion injury in my shoulder. I was having a bit of trouble reconciling that she would have her end of the bargain wrapped up in just a few treatment sessions, whereas my work could take many more hours than that. Another friend remarked that that was fair, because they not only go through an awful lot of training, but their careers are short-lived because they work with their hands so much. It occurred to me that while I agree very much to a point, our careers in corsetry are not immune to the development of physical ailments directly associated with the work. My own injury that I was seeking treatment for was due to a specific sewing task that I had to replicate over and over again many times each day, and then exacerbated by inserting boning and such. A lady who worked lingerie production in the studio I worked in could no longer even put the underwires in bras because she had a similar repetitive motion injury from so many years of doing it.

So the TL;DR sum up is, it's no joke! Taking the time out to stretch (back when I worked at the studio, we made a fun break of it at the same time each day) and develop strength in your hands is so important. Those old school hand exercisers that you squeeze are great for warding off wrist and elbow pain. Even if you're not able to actually squeeze them closed, just gripping them firmly does seem to help a lot with those flaming wrists. Even a bit of a "warm up" when you know you'll be doing tasks that tend to make things sore can make all the difference, even if it seems rather silly.

This is a very true point!

Every so often a couple of my friends and I joke about charging extra for black given it's so tiring on the eyes... But it's not really that funny! I'm short-sighted began wearing glasses when I was about 22 I think, and the prescription gets stronger every few years. We joke about these things and carry on regardless, but yeah... if we want to continue making beautiful things we need to look after our most important tools, our hands and eyesight!