Waist Trainer Corsets
What is a waist trainer, does waist training work and my challenge to find the best waist trainer for meA Quest For The Best Corset Waist Trainer Out There
So if you know me you know I’m an advocate of making your own corsets, if you sew I highly recommend checking out my corset making video course as it saves you a lot of money and gives you greater freedom over shape, sizing and design.
I am aware however that a lot of people don’t sew or don’t have the confidence or time to make corsets for themselves. I’ve been asked countless times ‘what’s the best waist trainer/corset out there/on the web if I just want to buy one’. I’ve never been able to give more than a few recommendations that I’ve heard good things about as I’ve not tried any of them for myself – Cue the perfect reason to go buy corsets! 😀
So I’ve finally decided to give it a go and purchase some waist trainers online, test them out and find out for myself if waist training really can make spot fat loss and permanent change in body shape possible. Call it my Waist Training Challenge to myself. I will of course be keeping a diary and sharing everything with you as I go.
+ Plus for the duration of my first corset ‘seasoning’ (which should take ten days) I’m celebrating with a special
❣️25% OFF❣️ discount code – WAISTED25 –
which I just activated early ? use it in the SHOP for a discount on all your corset making goodies.
A Few Points To Note About This Personal Challenge/Experiment
- It’s been a while since I have worn a corset anything like regularly. I’ve always been pretty bad at sticking to anything and waist training is one of those things. Read; I’ve never properly corset trained. Ever! This will be a beginners journey.
- I’ve put on about a stone in weight in the last 6 months that I’d like to loose. I’ve kept a weight diary for the last couple of years as well as taking body photos intermittently throughout that time. So I have some good data on how my body and shape changes as I put on and loose weight naturally without a corset.
- I’m 31 so I haven’t had teenage youth on my side for a while, I think this is probably a good time for this experiment as we tend to loose the young girl physique toward the mid/end of our twenties and I’ve tried exercise alone to recover that shape without full success.
- I’ve got a 12 year old so my body has been through pregnancy. Not a lot of people know I have a little one (not so little now). I had a completely flat stomach before pregnancy and while I was lucky and you can’t tell I’m a mum to look at it, my tummy has always been rounder than before. Again I have photos and all this data means making a case study of myself is a great idea.
Picking The Waist Trainers!
I’ve had a look around at the various places to buy corsets from online and I think I’ve picked out three I want to try.
I’m going for over the hips corsets to support and compress my stomach, there’s no point doing this in a short little waist cincher now. So full tummy coverage/over the hips corsets only. I’m also going with underbusts, overbust corsets aren’t particularly practical or popular for waist training. For testing the rib shaping myth I also want conical shaping to the rib area. I’m a little weary that I won’t get on with a completely conical waist trainer so I’m looking for a slight outward curve to the area around the chest.
So I’m going with three different price points, the higher end being a custom, made-to-measure corset. I’ve avoided the bespoke makers that have waiting lists for practical reasons and please don’t think I’m picking favourites, there are many I would love to try.
Slim Silhouette Longline Corset
$95
Lucy’s Corsetry Shop
Lucy from Lucy’s Corsetry is a friend of mine and an affiliate for my course. That disclosed I wouldn’t wear a corset advocated by a friend just for those reasons. Lucy knows her stuff and has road-tested practically every brand of corset I’ve ever heard of. She currently sells a few through her website shop so I know they’re going to be good. I’m currently eyeing up her longline underbust for $95, Timeless Trends label. It has adjustable hip ties which should help with fitting.
UPDATE: I also got this Hourglass Standard Length Corset after Lucy advised this shape for me.
L4071 Mae Corset
$229.50
What Katie Did
I’ve always wanted a What Katie Did corset and I’ve heard very good things about them so I have my eye on the L4071 Mae Corset for $229.50. I don’t have a lot of curve to my figure so I need something with narrow hips and to their credit What Katie Did’s styles all have varying measurements with a few extreme options to cater for a variation in customer body shapes. The Mae has nice narrow hips. It’s also very conical in shape so we’ll see how my ribs get on with it. If they don’t have the color you want in stock it’s 4 weeks for made to order.
RetroHistory Retro04
$298.59 or $360.36
(CA $397.91 or $480.24)
RetroFolie
RetroFolie’s made-to-measure corsets have been on my radar for a while. The over the hips Retro04 shape is exactly what I’m after and little touches like all their corsets including hand flossing along the bottom edge, show them up as a quality brand. While I could go for the Cotton Twill RetroBasic for CA$397.91($298.59 US) which is very good value for made-to-measure, I’m going to splash out and go for one of their RetroHistory Retro04 pattern matched Mucha designs for CA $480.24 ($360.36 US). Ready to ship in 5-7 weeks.
The Corset Waist Trainer Diary
My first corsets from Lucy have arrived and you can follow along with my progress as I season my first corset over on my page A Waist Trainers Diary. Also included are photos and data about my shape and weight etc to make this study as complete as possible. Directly below I’ll include the most recent post –
New Corset Training ‘Seasoning’ Record Sheet
New Corset Training ‘Seasoning’ Record Sheet
I’ve created an updated corset seasoning record sheet after doing a fair bit of corset seasoning myself recently (check out the page A Waist Trainers Diary for my corset training videos). I put a lot of thought into this one ? It’s designed to fold in half and have a hole punched at the top so you can slide a thin corset lace through or tie some string to easily attach it to your corset when not being worn. Scroll down to the bottom to grab a copy that you can save and print for free. It’s a thank you to my readers and customers, love you guys ❤️
For more information and advice on corset training – start on the main Corset Training Page
More Customisation – Ideal For Corset Training Regulars
The last record sheet I designed for breaking in your corset was more for the beginner, with guidelines for timeframes etc but limited input. (Get the beginners Corset Seasoning Record Sheet here). This one’s less restrictive and has more options –
You still have corset name and number but there’s also a faint outline of a corseted mannequin so you can draw on the style of the corset it belongs to. I found that once I had 2 corsets the sheets got muddled up, so can you imagine having several! The little visual makes life much easier.
It’s more printer friendly too – the minimal design means low ink usage, plus it’s print quality resolution. Click the image at the bottom of this page for a high-res 300DPI image, just print at 100%.
The session log now has more options too – date, time on – time taken off, number of hours worn, total hours worn so far and waist size. Developed completely based on what I was writing in the margins on my old log but you can pick and choose which bits you want to fill in. I was finding I measured my waist before taking off the corset each day and tracking this gave me a good idea of how my body was getting used to the corset.
Extra Long Time Frame Takes You To 6 Weeks Of Waist Training
You can record long term corset training progress on these as they unfold to 42 sessions (6 weeks). Ideal for if you have a long term waist reduction goal – you only need to print out a new one every month and a half.
There’s a little notes section too, perfect for stuff like ‘session 6 – only 4 hours, running marathon after lunch‘ or the slightly more likely ‘after session 12 took 2days off – monster hangover‘
Anyway as you can tell I’m pretty chuffed with it. I’m a stationary nut though so maybe it’s not as exciting to you lol. Either way let me know what you think and any improvements you’d like to see. ?
Click The Image For The Big Version
New corset seasoning record – CLICK FOR BIG PIC (save and print free)
Nuka modelling the new corset seasoning sheet.
Waist Training
As a corset maker and wearer I’m often asked what is waist training exactly? Does it hurt? How long do you have to wear a waist trainer/corset and does it work, really? Well, let me dispel a few myths first.
Waist Training Myths
Waist training with a corset should not hurt, the results are not permanent (we’ll go into this in more detail in a sec as that’s not strictly true) and you should not waist train at the gym! Wearing a corset while exercising is not a great idea. I know a few corset wearers who are experimenting with it but in general it’s not necessary or particularly safe. If you’re wearing the non-boned corsets i.e. the stretchy waist cinchers that are now a popular gym wear fad then that’s different but you’re going about waist reduction all wrong, which brings us neatly onto the question ‘what is waist training?’
What Is Waist Training
Recently there’s been a lot of hype about so called waist trainers – the stretchy ‘corsets’ that are supposed to help you spot loose stomach fat when worn at the gym. The general idea is that compressing the fat helps encourage the body to use it up in that area first. How anyone expects that to happen in the space of an hour or two is laughable. If anything, wearing one of these waist trainers is supporting the midsection and taking some of the pressure off of the muscles you’re trying to work. This fitness regime really isn’t going to make a difference to your waistline in my opinion.
Corset waist training involves wearing a corset throughout the day. Tight lacers as they’re known, wear a steel boned corset waist trainer which shapes the waistline instantly making the wearers waist 4 inches smaller roughly. The corset is worn consistently from day to day (and often the nights too) and over time the wearer is able to train their waist to smaller and smaller sizes.
– This should not hurt and takes months to do safely and correctly –
It’s a very slow process but the visual effects are stunning. I have had the pleasure of talking to several tight lacers who were good enough to share their experiences and before and after photos. If you’d like to read their stories you can find them here – Waist Training Before and After.
What Is A Training Corset?
So what is a proper waist trainer corset? Well, waist training corsets don’t stretch for one thing (by don’t I mean they’re designed to stretch as little as possible, they’re still fabric). They’re usually made with cotton coutil, which is a fabric designed specifically for corset making, and a training corset is usually double or triple layered for extra strength – so they’re basically a very robust corset designed to be worn most of the time to slowly make your waist smaller over many months.
The waist trainer, when it’s properly constructed, is made from a corset pattern that has been designed with a waist size at least 4 inches smaller than the wearers natural waist. So it has curves that a natural body doesn’t (unless you’ve been genetically blessed!) One of the measures of a good corset is its shape. If it doesn’t look curvy off, it won’t look curvy on.
A proper waist trainer is also boned with steel boning to keep the body in the correct shape once tightly laced. The bones don’t just keep the corset in shape, they’re there for both structure and comfort. Yes, believe it or not they make wearing a corset comfortable; keeping the pressure evenly spread over the body. Have you ever sat down in a tight, unboned top or dress? Did it roll and fold uncomfortably at the waist? Exactly! I can’t stress enough that the stretchy, unboned waist training belts for gym wear are not proper waist trainers! If you want a proper corseted silhouette you need a proper waist training corset with steel bones.
Do Waist Trainers Work?
In short yes, the effects of waist training with a corset are instant. The moment you put on a corset your silhouette changes. But of course it changes straight back when you take it off. As for longterm waist trainer results it’s generally accepted as fact that corset training for several years will leave you with some sort of permanent difference. However your body will then age/put on fat in the natural way when you stop wearing a waist trainer.
As for permanently leaving your body with the more extreme curves of a corset, there’s been a lot of debate as to how much truth there is to this one too. Can a few years of waist training alter your shape permanently for the rest of your life? Corsets do shape your lower ribs and again arguments rage as to how permanent this change is. Do they eventually expand back out to their original position?
There’s also the fat loss myth to consider. There’s no doubt that wearing a waist training corset helps with fat loss as it acts very much like a gastric band. A corset compresses the stomach and restricts the amount of food you can comfortably eat, making it a great tool for aiding in weight loss. But whether the fat is lost from all over the body in the usual way or whether the compression of the waist helps shift a larger proportion of fat from the stomach area is again debatable. I’ll be testing these theories out for myself later.
