Computer Crash

Annalais computer has crashed and is awaiting repair. She expects being unable to post for some weeks, but will update when when she get the opportunity.
Peter

Bestform girdle

I have a BESTFORM high zipper girdle that probably stems from the years
1960 or so. I have a photo of the original box and also a photo showing the
inside of the girdle. Finally you see me wearing my cream colored Albert corset
and the BESTFORM girdle. Although the girdle is a size SMALL, you see that the
waist is much too big. No wonder, the girdle waist is 19 inch and the cream
corset gave me an 18 inch waist, measured over the corset.

Graciette girdle

I was wearing girdles, although not daily, for many years before I actually started waist training in a real corset.

Most of my girdles are gone since long as they did not fit me anymore. Of one of the girdles I still own but do not wear anymore, I found an advertisement on the net. It is by a Swedish brand and named GRACIETTE. Sorry the girdle does not look so smooth on the photos. The torso I used was too straight in shape, so I had to use some fabric underneath to fill out the hips a bit.

The girdle has none-stretch fabric at the back and in the front and has stretch fabric on the sides. It is boned with three short stays in the front and two longer ones in the back and one at each side. It closes with hooks and eyes.

I have no size of it, but the measurements taken flat are:
Waist 25 inch
Hips 31-34 depending on the height I measure at.
Back height 12,5 inch
Front height 10,5 inch.


Advertisment photo: courtesy http://www.corsetiere.net/Spirella/Contents.htm

My last corset from Amy Crowder

This is my last corset from Amy Crowder, Wasp Creations. For me it was a new model advised by Amy the one called gusseted corset.
This corset has 9 bones on each side and in the front under the zipper a 1 inch wide stiff underbusk. Waist size 17 inch.

Ribbon corsets

I have an antique corset collection with about 25 corsets. I do not think antique corsets should be worn and certainly not destroyed to reuse any of the parts. But I must confess I have tried on a few of the more sturdy ones and very carefully laced them up to snap a few pictures.

Things I have learnt is even if they look perfect with no visible sign on the fabric, still the fabric can be very brittle and the corset can have broken and brittle whalebone stays.

I will start with showing some pictures of the four ribbon corsets I have in my collection. Ribbon corsets are not suitable for tightlacing. They were used by thin women who did not need much support, or as evening or bridal wear. Ribbon corsets were also used during sports like horse riding.

Three corsets are made from silk ribbon; two are cream and one is light green. One is made from white cotton.

All the ribbon corsets I have are made for a small waist. The light green one is made in France and has an 18 inch waist. The stays are made of whalebone. I wish there were a better name instead of whalebone, as this name is confusing as it is not at all bone from whales. Whalebone or ‘baleen’ comes from the upper jaw of a whale where a system of baleen plates serve the task of filtering plankton. It is a flexible but firm and can be split in any size and length. Today, whalebone is not used and should not be used either.

I include one rather bad picture of me taken by myself of one of the cream ribbon corsets. I just tried the ribbon corset on over my daily corset. So, on this picture, I am wearing two corsets at the same time.

Starting waist training with a belt.

The first corset I bought was a black satin underbust from Vollers. It did not fit me very well and was not comfortable either something I realized after a couple of times wearing it. Already after a short time the stays started to twist and the fabric started to tear so the bones were sticking out. I went back to the corset store a few times to try other corsets. I think I tried every style she had in the store and nothing was well-fitting. I did buy some other brands also off the rack ones and they did not either fit well. I wanted something else. On the walls at the store there were pictures of different women in corsets. Some of the photos showed Cathie Jung and I was amazed by her small waist.

So, I did some search and found more information about Cathie Jung . I was fascinated. She was not very young when she started to waist train and yet she had the world’s smallest waist on a living person.

I decided I would not buy a custom made corset of the type some offer as custom made, asking only for 3 measurements. No, it should be a real custom made corset suitable for waist training. At this time there were about 10 corset makers who were well-known and made custom made corsets. So my search began and I also decided I wanted to train my ribs.

It took me some time to decide who I was going to order from and during this time I still had the Vollers on sometimes, but I also started to wear a belt under my clothes. The idea about the belt I got from Cathie Jung and some other tightlacers. I had the belt on every time I did not wear the corset and during the nights. I did not buy a special waist training belt as sold on several places for example on Staylace. Instead, I had a wide leather belt fitting perfectly between my ribs and hipbones and chose to use that. I had to make new holes in this belt rather often as my waist was shrinking. See the picture.

This is a text on Staylace about starting waist training with a belt.
http://www.staylace.com/thomaslierse/@uabtbytt.htm

First time I tried a corset a true story

Some 10 years ago I was strolling around in the old town of Stockholm. In a shop window I saw a dress dummy with old fashioned underwear and an overbust corset looking like taken from Gone with the Wind. I have always loved the look of women in the Victorian era and around late 1940 to the middle of the 1960. I wore such clothes but not a corset yet. Girdles and tight belts did belong to my wardrobe at this time.

I went into the shop and it was filled with corsets mainly from Vollers. I wanted to try the overbust I had seen in the window as it had the old looking feeling to it. But of course it was too big for me all over, both in size and in height, as I am petite, and specifically at the waist. Well, the women who owned the shop suggested I should try an underbust. I was about to leave the store as the type of corset I wanted did not fit me and I was not really much interested in the plain boring looking underbust she held up in front of me. Then I changed my mind and decided to try on the underbust and so I did and a new chapter opened up in my life.

The saleswomen put the corset on me and began to pull the laces. She did this with a hard pull and, as I wasn´t prepared for, I nearly fell backwards. I automatically put my arms up in the little dressing room but there was nothing to hold on. I pressed my hands against the wall. The saleswomen pulled the laces several times and I was nearly screaming stop! stop! It’s too tight, I cannot breathe. I could see the women’s face in the mirror and she smiled at me and pulled the laces once more and tied a knot. I thought I was going to faint and my first thought was get this stupid thing off me immediately. I cannot breathe or stand it.

I saw myself in the mirror and calmed down. I couldn´t stop looking at myself and feel with my hands over the corset. It was me! The unpleasant feeling was now changed into very pleasant and I did not want to take the corset off. I wanted to buy it, but I didn´t have enough money with me and the women was closing the store for the day. I had to wait for two whole weeks before I had a chance to return to the shop and buy the corset. For two weeks the only thing I could think of was the corset and the feeling I got when wearing it.

When I stepped into the store I was not even planning to buy a corset, but I got addicted to corsets at the first try.