Tonia – Recommended
As recommended by the pattern maker, please read all the instructions before touching your fabric. This pattern is very straight forward, and easy to understand, but there does seem to be a few things missing from the pattern, those that are familiar with pattern construction will be able to smoothly get past those points. And, as other costume bloggers have noted, this pattern does tend to run a little small. When cutting my fabric, I did as other bloggers did, and added 2″ to the back pieces. This allowed for an amount of spring back that is period correct. I did construct mine with the front busk. As I did not have the $$$ to order a custom busk, I purchased a 1/4″ think yard stick, cut to measure for my busk pocket and sanded all the sharp edges. As for my boning, I did as the pattern maker suggested not to do, and used plastic feather light boning. As I made my stays from 2 layers of twill, and 1 layer of poly/cotton broadcloth, I did not see the need for heavier boning. I am satisfied with this set of stays, but will be making another set later on, in the traditional white of the period.
Angela – Recommended
This is a very easy corset pattern to construct – however, like all corset construction, a mock-up must be made for fitting. The peculiarity of this pattern is that the center-back (CB) panels are mysteriously very slim – the moment you look at the CB pattern pieces you can see they are not wide enough, and that at least 2-3-4 inches (depending on the size of the corset) needs to be added to both sides of the CB for a proper fitting. As Tonia noted, several other bloggers have mentioned this peculiarity in the pattern, and we note it again to spare our readers any troubles that may result when constructing this corset.
Note: I did not include the shoulder straps on my corset for comfort’s sake! This exclusion did not compromise the integrity of the garment, however, if you are larger than a C-cup, you may want to include the straps for bust support. I also did not use a busk, but rather lightly boned my stays with feather-light boning at the seams and hip gussets. ~XX
