How to insult your customers in one easy step

[Food Lady]

^ Maybe it's better to have one that laces rather than zips. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta5n1R6X06E

[Slave to the Phone]

I have made my own corsets following instructions from the Society of Creative Anarchism's. The basic corset was pretty easy, making it pretty was much harder. The wrong lace that looks perfect peeking out the top of a bodice could make an event a living hell.

After a while, I got tired of sitting around with my needlework and looking decorative and thought it would be fun to put some armor on and swing a sword around. That meant new corsets that would move and support the weight of my girls AND the armor.

Again, I used patterns and suggestions from the SCA.

The ones I make for myself now are very comfortable and flex and move very well. They still aren't pretty.

[Ironclad Alibi]

They didn't, so I found a specialty lingerie maker and had my bras custom made.

One of my aunts had custom made bras. She made them herself. I overheard her telling someone that she found a bra that worked well for her, disassembled it and used the pieces for a pattern to make her own bras.

If you want further information on how she did this, find a medium and contact her via a seance.

[mathnerd]

I have many talents. Sewing is not one of them. I'm stuck buying them at a store and continueing to hope I find another bra maker that can live up to my old one.

[Aragarthiel]

^ Maybe it's better to have one that laces rather than zips.

It is, which is why I default to them, but besides the zipper issue it's my favorite corset. It's not incredibly revealing so I can wear it under an unbuttoned shirt or some such thing, it doesn't dig, it's supportive, flexible enough that I can put my own shoes on, and breathes rather well so I don't sweat in it. Plus, if I decide to wear it so that it's visible, my confidence goes WAAAAAAY up (who doesn't like feeling prettier than usual?).

[Sliceanddice]

One word: corsets.

Not waist trainers, big difference. I wear both bras and corsets (sometimes the weather's too warm for a corset and they're a pain to wash) and I definitely prefer the corset. No back pain, no digging unless you put it on wrong, and most of them are adjustable to some degree so they're awesome for slight weight variations.

I want a corset but I'm lazy.

[morgana]

I have made my own corsets following instructions from the Society of Creative Anarchism's. The basic corset was pretty easy, making it pretty was much harder. The wrong lace that looks perfect peeking out the top of a bodice could make an event a living hell.

Again, I used patterns and suggestions from the SCA.

Slave, could you be more specific? I've been in the SCA for thirty years, and never managed to learn this?

[Slave to the Phone]

If you are a fellow SCAer, you already know the basics of how things are put together and how to scrounge for supplies

Start with a copy of the Known World Handbook (I have the 20 year edition), an old t-shirt, a roll of duct tape and a very good friend. Don the bra that gives you the shape you want, put on the t-shirt and have your friend duct-tape the t-shirt to you, being very careful to properly shape the tape over your girls. Once the shirt is fully covered in duct-tape and is form fitted to you, carefully make a single straight cut down the front or back to remove it. This is your pattern.

Cut the sides so you can lay it flat and trace the shapes onto paper. Now you can cut the paper into pattern pieces and use tape to get the basic shape. If you have an old corset that you can take apart, that would be great. It will show you how the curved pieces are cut.

If nobody can see it, nobody will know that you didn't use period materials. The stays you can buy at fabric stores are OK, but if you can get your hands on the stays used in medical corsets, those work better. If you are planning on getting hit with big sticks and rolling around on the ground, you have to use elastic fabric and double lapped seams.

If you are anything like me, you will totally mess up the first one, but that's OK. You will have learned from the experience.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Speaking as someone who takes a 40... I'm technically not fat. I just have wide shoulders. Which is good, as my cup size is very big and it means I can support my humungeous boobs. But yeah, the shop assistant was out of order. I suppose she might have had previous customers who were in denial about what size they needed, but that's no reason to assume that you're the same.

[Nunavut Pants]

... the Society of Creative Anarchism's...

Deliberate pun, or Freudian slip? (Something you wear under a Freudian corset?)