<--- "Wanda Pease" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: < <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
Wanda, My effigy-style corset is boned with broomstraw which is astonishingly rigid, but with a little bit of flex. I can't bend over in it, though. The broomstraw isn't millet straw, but something called 'Darwin fibre' - unfortunately the broom company from which I got it has gone out of business. ( I got some millet straw, but I didn't think it would be strong enough. Nor was it long enough. The Darwin fibre looks very much like the reeds/bents in one of the stomachers in Janet Arnold's PoF, I can't remember which one, offhand. ) The straws are approx. 1mm diameter, with I think somewhere between 10 and 20 straws on average going into each channel. The channels are the width of half of the presser foot on my sewing machine - approx. 5-6mm wide. The straws extend down into the tabs, and so far are holding up well to the strain: I have your problem - bumroll, what bumroll? The tabs don't actually flare that acutely - they sort of smooth things out. The other thing which I have used successfully in the same style corset is hemp cord, the same as on this page: http://homepage.mac.com/festive_attyre/research/cording/cord.html The good thing about the hemp cord is that it allows complete freedom of movement, while providing excellent support. On of my friends whose corset is boned with hemp cord has actually slept in it. ( I can lie down in my straw-boned corset, but it's not really the most comfortable thing to do. ) My next corset is going to be done with hemp cord - I need to be able to move in camp. Hope this helps. Joannah. _____________________________________________________________ Sluggy.Net: The Sluggy Freelance Community! _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
