A snippet I would like to share about corsets in 1913 plus questions about bust support.

[Yvonne De Rooij]

I was talking about old (edwardian to 1949) books on sewing with TheLongHairedFlapper on her youtube channel, and she recommended some freely downloadable books from archive . com

Comments

[virginiadear]

Returning to the subject of Edwardian or early twentieth century corsets, I feel very strongly about S-bend corsets. I know what an unnatural posture can do and how uncomfortable if not painful it can be, so I'm a great advocate of "faking" the S-bend by using pads inside the corset to achieve the proper silhouette.
I've never, ever been a fan of tight lacing as it was done in the periods of "serious corsetry," when corsets were steam molded, etc.

[ext_3749756]

I have recently re-read one of Cathy Hay's articles on the smoke and mirrors that is involved in edwardian corsetry, and that they are not at all as uncomfortable or damaging as some people claim

[virginiadear]

"I have recently re-read one of Cathy Hay's articles on the smoke and mirrors that is involved in edwardian corsetry, and that they are not at all as uncomfortable or damaging as some people claim."

I'm always interested to know who is making the claim: I've had any number of conversations where I've talked about corsets not leaving one breathless or constricting the ribcage so tightly as to be painful and nausea- and swoon-inducing, have explained about extremes in fashions versus what I think you'd call smoke and mirrors, and yet had the listening audience persist in exclaiming over the horrors of tight-lacing, etc., but often I find that the individual with whom I'm speaking has never worn a corset of any description.

"I have no doubt that edwardian corsets can be just as comfortable as any other corset provided that it is well drafted."Regarding Edwardian S-bend corsets and comfort or damage, if the S-bend of the clothed figure is determined by the corset alone, sooner or later there's going to be some damage. To have the hips

[ext_3749756]

The only uncomfortable corsets I've ever worn were corsets not custom made for me (corsets from friends who egged me on to try them on) and when I wore my corsets much tighter than they were designed for. For example if the corset in question was custom made for me and designed with a 10cm lacing gap and I laced it much tighter than that

[virginiadear]

I never thought about spine twisting. But the spine can be put into uncomfortable angles without twisting, at least one of which would be that back-thrust of the hips

[ext_3749756]

Spine twisting was a poor choice of words on my part. I think forcing the spine into an uncomfortable or unnatural position would be more accurate

[virginiadear]

H'mm.
You've given me some things about which to think, so I will go,now, and think about them.

[ext_3749756]

Sorry if I said anything rude or offensive or perhaps I came over as preachy, that was not my intent.
I cannot imagine what it is like to be a person who had to figure it out all on their own with no patterns, no books and only historical corsets to look at and now finds themselves in a time where a lot of corset knowledge is available for free by doing a simple google search.