My Entire Historical Corset Collection

I'm sharing every historical corset I've ever made (in order of make) spanning ~160 years from the mid-18th-century to Regency to Victorian to Edwardian to the 1910s. I've learned so much about this challenging form of costuming over several years and you can tell how far I've come by seeing all these projects in order. Which style is your favorite?

*** REFERENCES ***
All of my corset-related videos/blog posts:
Many of these corsets, however, were made pre-YouTube.

*** IMAGE CREDITS ***

*** CONNECT ***

I may not always have time to respond to all comments but know that I do read and appreciate them!

[coreygilles]

It is comforting to know that it took you five corsets to be happy with your results…gives me hope for the future

[pennyb]

After seeing your video on the cross-over regency stays I decided to give it a go as my first corset sewing project. I have a bigger bust than you, so I added some cording just underneath the bust, and split the bust gussets into three longer slimmer gussets, but otherwise it was pretty similar. Overall I am pretty pleased with my first attempt and surprised at how much it changes my shape to match the regency silhouette. I'm keen to give the Rilla corset a go next.

[Larananne]

I love Scroop Patterns for pretty much everything - my first pair of stays were the "Augusta" stays. They ended up being really fantastic and still hold up, even though I've come much further in my sewing journey :) Great video!

[shellylrobinson]

My first corset (that I make) is going to be the laughing moon regency. I’m gonna try the theatrical version first and then the second one will be the corded one

[jomercer]

I would love to see you make a circa 1750 set of stays.

[stevezytveld]

A lovely collection of work. Well done.
I still have my Regency half stays in time out. I'll drag them back out in early summer. In the meantime I'm playing with leatherwork and making some overly complicated tool rolls.
- Cathy (&, accidently, Steve), Ottawa/Bytown/Pimisi

[rebeccaleavenworth]

I am so happy I found this channel! I am just starting to learn how to make corsets for historic costumes and I found the information in this video very helpful!

[angelafleming]

Great overview of your corset collection! Loved seeing how one improves over time. I am just finishing up the Laughing Moon #115 long stays with cording. It is my first set of stays. And of course, I am now pregnant and will not be able to wear them for much longer. Did you take a break from wearing historical costumes when you had yours?

[pv]

A nice look at your corsets and thanks for all the tips! Will I make myself one, pondering it...

[shevaunhandley]

I've only done two corsets so far. Black Snail's 1880s corset and TV's Edwardian Corset. I also have Red Threaded's 1860s corset but I haven't made that yet (on my list I guess). I enjoyed the simplicity of the Black Snail corset and since it was my first, it looks dreadful, even after a mock up. I desperately want to do a remake with coutil this time, but it fits and does the job. The Edwardian corset was fun to make and took a few tweeks to get to fit my mother right, but looks superb.

[sarahmwalsh]

I've made three pairs of stays so far: Nehelenia 18th century stays, which didn't use period construction techniques; Laughing Moon "theatrical" Regency long stays which I also made by machine for the sake of speed; and Scroop's Augusta stays, which I made entirely by hand except for stitching the boning channels on my machine. The Scroop pattern is extremely user-friendly and really walks you through every single step. It's not difficult, just time-consuming.

[becauseimafan]

Oh my gosh, # 5 the pink Edwardian corset, it is so gorgeous!! My jaw dropped and I said "Wow!" out loud! 🤩♥️ I love this, I need to go back and see if you have a video featuring it! 😍
Ooh # 6 the black with the pink flossing, I remember this one - it's _so_ pretty and ~fancy~ 🤩

10:52 Ooooh that 1830s design! I _need_ it! I am totally gonna look that up now, I need to see this design 🤩 If (When? 😉) you decide to make one, *please* make a video featuring it, it sounds like such a good project, I'd love to see it!

[gigglesmurf]

I’ve been considering making regency long stays but know I won’t have patience for back lacing. Has anyone switched out the wooden busk for a split one? Not going to be totally historically accurate anyways as I’m be doing grommets not eyelets.

[Majmysza]

I use "Stays and Corsets" by Mandy Barrington to custom draft my patterns. I have so many alterations to make on any commercial pattern that it's just not worth it, and drafting from that book gives amazing results. Highly recommend.
I had a thought about the bones in your stays poking at the back - I was concerned about this too, and ended up putting the ends of the diagonal bones over the vertical ones. This way the vertical bone prevents the diagonal from poking so much. It could be an easier fix than moving the boning channels!