What skating and corsets have to do with each other?

 A big fall that is what. If you remember, we went to skate in historical/ Edwardian clothing.

What I haven't told in that short post that I fell twice that afternoon. Yes, the ice is slippery, and I am outof practice. The first time it was not that bad, but the second time I fell harder. My arm and shoulder hurt for weeks afterwards, but I was suited up properly (I wore wrist and knee protectors - they were invisible under the clothing, and I need my hands more than I care about full accuracy).

However, when I got home, and undressed, I immediatly learned what happens to a corset-busk, when you fell, like I did.

This is what. The thread in the stiching, that held in the busk broke, and  there was nothing to hold in the metal closure. I thought about fixing it, but that would have been just s much work as it would take to make a new one, and that was more work that I was willing to put in a corset that was starting to get too big on me. 

For months if I needed to wear some corset for an event I wore the corset that I made one size up, I mean, when I was bigger that in the spring (you see, I had to talk about me loosing weight, because it will keep coming up), and I used the corset with the teared out bust to show people that yes, you can do all kinds of sports in corsets, and they will die, but will not kill you.

Also the couple size too big corset I used as an example, that no, you do not need to thightlace yourself for the corset to do its job (which is not making you thin - I know, I promised a post on corsets, and it IS coming).

But then I lost even more weight, and I could not put off making one for my current size.

First I had a decision to make. Busks are nor cheap, nor available in a good enough selection. The one I really like, a somewhat wider but definetly stronger staight busks are not available within the country. Yes, you can order them, but that is expensive. In the one place in budapest they  are actually available you can buy the narrow straight ones and the other one that is widening, toward the bottom (the "spoon busk". Spoon busks are not really accurate for the 1860 period (they came into fashion about 15-20 years later), but that is what is avaliable, but they are expensive. 

So I had to decide either to buy a new one or take the old corset, with the teared out busk, and I open it fully and reuse the metal. 

Then I thought, as we say it in Hungarian that if it is a goose, it should be at least a fat one, and not only used the busk iself, but I also took out the boning and reused them too. 

Wow, I actually not only managed to make some pictures of the sewing, but I even found the pictures, yay.

Oops. these picture sare actually for the corset I made to go with the purple dress. Anyhow the shape and the techiquest are the same.

The secret of the Redthreaded 1860 pattern is, that it is made from relatively few pieces. The bigger front piece is cut on the bias, that helps it to conform to the shape of the body, and the shape of the hip piece helps emphasize the hips.

I made this at the end of september, maybe very early october, and I did not lost much weight since then, however now I can completey close the corset, which means, if I stays more less the same weight, I can demostrate the "corsets are not making you hard to breath" kind of trope with it, or make a new one