Wanda, I used 1/4" flat reeds from Weaving Works in Seattle, and have been really happy. They have a great selection of style and sizes of reeds, and are very reasonable. I spent under $10 for enough reed to do an entire corset, and I'm a woman of "fine substantial size."
HTH-- LuAnn in Vancouver ----- Original Message ----- From: Wanda Pease<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: H-Costume<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, January 30, 2006 7:16 PM Subject: [h-cost] Boning/reeds yet again I'm bracing myself to do yet another corset with tabs. This time I would like to use something besides steel because the steels that go down into the tabs from the corset itself tend to bend and stay bent. Besides, they are expensive. I happen to have some real whale bone, both as stay size pieces and as an entire frond. The young man who gave me the stays told me "don't ask", but I suspect they came from Japan. The small frond I got on E-Bay and came with a certificate that it was gotten pre-ban and legally. I got it mainly so I could have something to show when teaching. Problem is that once you have handled the "real thing" you aren't going to be impressed with cable ties as a substitute. So reeds/broom straw seems a better answer. I know that several people have used reed successfully. How big? Where did you get it? Either this or maybe a nice broom and lots of quilting thread? I did check the archives, but didn't see exactly what I was looking for. Do I want 1/4" oval, 1.5mm round reed, 1mm round reed? Broom? One reason I particularly want a new corset is because I have done something to my back. On 12th night I knew I was going to be wearing a 35 pound houpeland (BIG Sleeves, Velvet lined with light weight wool, full circle) and was willing to bet my back was not going to be happy. I put on my Tudor corset made from the corset generator pattern with added tabs and was comfortable for 18 hours! I'm beginning to think this is what I want for work as well. I'm pleasingly plump ;-) and a B cup but I have _hips_ (bum roll? what bum roll?) so the tiny waist immediately flairs out to quite substantial hips (weebles wobble, but they don't fall down.) This means that the tabs are a point of considerable strain for any stiffening. Wanda Pease/Regina Romsey Never attribute to malice what can as easily be attributed to simple social ineptness _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume<http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume> _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
