Week 8: thighs and corsets

This week I had my period so I took a few days off. But before this week something happened that I also experienced about a month ago; a mysterious pressure building up in my thighs.
I think this is caused by the corset pushing fat down into my hips and thighs. I can't be sure though as I haven't been focusing on the circumference of my thighs.

This made me think of an invention the old lady told about, the same one who told about corset wear and the female cycle. She said that women sometimes wore bands around their thighs to give them a nice round shape. These leg 'corsets' for lack of a better word, are strips of fabric, about 6-7 cm wide and all laced together to cover the entire upperleg. At the top they would be gathered with some lace or elastic band, not so tight as it would close of any bloodflow! This would give a nice brim at the top of the leg, also accentuating the bum.
She also saw these things displayed at the museum of Empress Elizabeth in Viena, but there they were displayed as 'legwarmers'...

She did wear them herself for a while in preparation of her wedding, but as she didn't like wearing them. Her husband was very happy with the result however. As the leg corsets shaped her thighs in a round shape and pushed fat up (leaving a narrow line between leg and bum), the corset pushed fat down, leaving her with a huge bum.
I haven't been able to find pictures of these leg corsets, but that's probably because I don't know what they're actually called.

Although I think the fat that is being redistributed by my corset is trying to settle on my thighs, I won't be wearing leg corsets myself. I think tight jeans ought to help me enough to keep them in shape.

My measurements are stabilizing: natural waist 92 cm again, and corseted waist 82 cm again.
I know waisttraining is a slow process and it takes time for the body to get into new shapes, but I hope I will start with actually lacing down very soon. Let's hope this stabilizing is a good omen before I can start lacing down.

For my video-blog, click here.

Week 7: Bra-talk

Apologies for the delay. I taped my blog (almost) on time, but I didn't have time to edit it until yesterday evening. That's why I'm posting it now.

As you know sometimes I skip wearing my corset and on those days I'm back to wearing a bra. Now that I don't wear them anymore on a daily basis, it was becoming quite obvious how uncomfortable a bra is compared to wearing a corset! This might shock some of you, but it's actually true!

A corset gives pressure in your waist and about 15 cm above and below your waistline. There is hardly any pressure at your bustline, while your bust is still supported sufficiently (if you're wearing a halfbust or overbust corset). A bra however has all these elastic bands, sometimes even so tight they leave red markings on your skin. Because the elastic band is so narrow around your chest, it's really awkward to notice how uncomfortable that is, in comparison to the (in that area) much looser fitting corset.

Just something about how to wear a corset; normally when you wear a corset that covers half or the whole of your bust, you don't wear a bra underneath. The elastic, boning and underwires of a bra usually already dig into the skin and if they are covered by a corset, they get pushed into your body even more, possibly even leaving you with bruises in the places where the bones meet up.
If you have an underbust corset, you could wear a bra, but sometimes the boning and underwire get into conflict, depending on the length of your corset.

You should however always wear a shirt or some kind of cotton underneath your corset to keep it fresh. The shirt will absorb your body oils and sweat (or most of it anyway). Generally you don't want to risk washing a corset with steel boning as it is expensive and you don't want it to start rusting. However, the shirt you can wash. A corset you can air out in the evening by hanging it inside out. Also dabbing the inside with a damp cloth, some laundry water or wodka will keep it clean and odourless.

My measurements are starting to get stable; natural waist 92 cm, corsetted waist 82 cm.

Click here to see my videoblog entry of this week.

Week 6; ill...

This was the third week in which I'm feeling poorly so I decided to hang the corset and just slouch on the couch. This is rather impossible to do comfortably while wearing a corset as this keeps you upright and straight. Especially with my halfbust! So I skipped quite a few days this week. And with the setback of last week I didn't know what to expect from my measurements when I put on my corset again this morning for the first time in, what is for me, quite a while.

My natural waist was now 92 cm and my corsetted waist again 83 cm. That is a decrease of one cm on my natural waist.

Because the first month of waisstraining is behind me, I've made a compilation of my progress with pictures below. You can also admire this in the video; click here.

Start Week 5: comparing types of boning

I have to apologize for posting this message so late. I've filmed it on time, but as I was feeling poorly for three weeks now, it took a while before I took the time to edit and post is. But now I have, so here comes my report of last week!

Overall I've been a good girl and only skipped wearing the corset for a couple of days. 

This week I read an article about the benefits of artificial whaleboning and how this succesfully creates an authentic Victorian corsetshape where steel boning fails to do so. This article contained an example by my favourite costume historian Luca Costiglio: Click here for the film by Bowes Museum. So needless to say, I was immediately convinced and ordered 50 metres of it from England for my bridal corset and other experiments.

As it arrived I felt inspired to do some comparing with different types of boning. In this film I compared:

• plastic boning (1 cm) with steel boning (1 cm), 
• plastic boning (0,7 mm) with steel boning (0,5 cm),
• artificial whalebone (white) with plastic boning of the same width but transparent,
• actual whalebone to all the others mentioned above.  
• Oh, and rigilene, but never mind that!

In the end the steel boning is of course more rigid than the flexible plastic ones, however it needs to be said that the 0,7 mm plastic boning does not kink! 

The strength of the whalebone is balanced between the slightly more flexible narrow artificial whalebone and the plastic 0,7 mm bone which is slightly less flexible. I forgot to compare it to the spiral boning, but I think the stiffness is similar to that. 

This made me decide to make 2 mockups of my bridal corset; one with artificial whalebone and one with the 0,7 mm plastic bone, if I can find it... Maybe mixed with the spiral boning. 

Unfortunately my waist was back to square one... I had measured my natural waist that morning; 93 cm, and that evening my corsetted waist came down to 83 cm. Back to where I started; bummer! I think it might be some weird monthly thing having something to do with the cycle of my body. But we'll see. Still many months to go, one down. 

Click here for the video.