Corset Story

There has been an attraction to corsets by both women and men for a long time - 100's of years. The construction techniques and the shapes they form have come from a variety of backgrounds. and so have the basic types of items used. If you are trying to reproduce the correct shapes, you need to have an understanding of the materials available to you on today’s market.

Body Shaping and Corsets - The Perfect Match

The corsets from earlier times are typically those with a minimal amount of curves. Your breast shape looks to be extremely compressed and create the appearance of a minimized profile. To attain this shape you have to constrain and work against the typical shape and inherent curves of woman's body.

Busks and Boning

A successful corset design is related to two components: a) the characteristics of the boning material used, and b) the level of lacing tightening. If you want the corset to feel comfortable when you are wearing it you are only able to tighten the laces to a point, the remainder of the support is done by the boning.

A useful boning material is nylon cased spring steel that delivers a pale color base and comes in different widths, thickness and length. When choosing a spring steel for your corset the "thickness" is more important than the width. The steel boning characteristic makes a perfect corset because it is pliable and flexible, but it is nearly impossible to bend them.

You can also use busk fasteners that open and are typically used with the front of corsets to allow you to put your corset on and off without help. The busks first appeared in the 1860's and started with the simplest busk, the complications of the spoon busk was developed around 1870. These items can be found in either our online superstore or our online auctions.