Truly Victorian Home Page Truly Victorian Photo Gallery

Hello everyone!
This is a corset I made a few years ago. I didn't particularly like the way it fit, so I took apart the old one and would like to reuse the busk and boning to make a new one. When I was looking at the pictures again and holding the busk up to my body though it seems like it may be a bit too long (I'm about 5'2" and the busk is 13" by the way). I'm very inexperienced with corset making so I would appreciate any input! Is the busk too long? And if it is just a teensy bit too long could I still get away with reusing it?

[Heather]

It look like it might be a tad tall, but it is not bad at all. If you wanted to trim the top down in the next one, it looks like you can drop the busk lower (I'm seeing some room at the bottom) and then trim the top to the length of your busk. Busks only come in 1" increments and unless you trim the bottom up, 12" would be too short for you. The test for to long at the bottom is to sit down on a hard chair. If the busk or bones dig into your legs, then you need to cut the front shorter.

Great! Thank you! One more quick question...would it be better to make the outer layer and lining both out of twill or will it be fine if I just use twill for the outer layer and then use muslin for the inner layer?

[Heather]

I've always used 2 layers of twill. Because the bones are placed between the 2 layers, the inside fabric needs to be strong enough to hold the bones in place. I worry that over time, the bones might work through something as light as muslin.

Ok! Thanks for your advice Heather! I'm almost done with my mockup