Talk about individuality, nothing is more personal than customising your body! The modern tight-lacer practises corset training because they want to follow their own ideals, not those of society like historic corseted ladies. This is probably the biggest change that has happened in corset training; it’s now about empowering women, and men, not constraining them.
So why not have fun with it and go all-out individual with a custom corset? Expensive to imprint your personality on a corset you’re thinking? Well yes if you have it custom made, but what’s stopping you having a go yourself? There are so many beautiful fabrics and trims out there, and you need so little for a corset that you can go for the luxury stuff. You need about a half meter for one corset, plus some coutil which is very stiff cotton for the lining.
If you’re just a beginner at corsetry and need full instructions, check out my Express Corset Making Course which includes illustrated step-by-step instructions, 11 corset patterns and costs about what you’d pay for 2 shop bought patterns.
When it comes to picking a material to make a corset from, for the outside of your corset you really can pick – literally – anything. Having said that, try to stay away from Lycras and stretch fabrics which can be difficult to work with. I love quilting fabrics myself, that sounds like something your grandmother would pick but just check out the range of amazing designs below. This is part of my personal stash and all those on the left are quilting type fabrics, on the right you have a selection of brocades which are commonly used for corsets and are perfect for beginners.
TIP – If you go for a lightweight fabric like the quilting cottons, use an iron-on backing for strength and to stop the wrinkling that often occurs with thin fabrics in corsetry.
And lastly, happy corset making and corset training!
