Stitching Up History: A Leather Corsette for under My Two Hide Dress

You may think I'm departing from custom a bit by making and wearing a brain tan corset under my two hide dress, but I do have valid reasons. I have a bad back and require support as well as I am a bit lumpy and the corset smooths out those imperfections that may detract from the overall design.

Why make it from Brain Tan Leather? Because it's breathable, comfortable, and I just happened to have enough scraps left over to put one together. I used a corset that fits me well as the pattern for size, but made accommodations for comfort and concealment. I don't want it to be obvious that I am wearing the stays and most of my corsets give an obvious lift and fit that stands out.

After cutting out the front and back, I then used an old fully boned colonial dress top that I no longer cared for as the lining, boning and all, trimming it to size and machine sewing it into the lining. I then hide glued the front piece on so no seams show.

The back piece was made up entirely from scraps, so it has an odd appearance, but this corset will not show, so I am not concerned about how it looks, other than it is neat in appearance and is smooth under the dress.

These pictures show my first fitting, I now realize I have to do a bit more trimming to get the shape I need, but so far the top fits great and I wont need to wear a bra under the dress as it supports me nicely without showing through. (Note the special support up the back, I added more boning after assembly, it really helps me out with support and smoothed out some wrinkles.

Properly Fitted

Proper Fit, Back

Proper fit front

Later that night....I had to make some slight adjustments to the sizing, I trimmed off a bit at the sides on the bottom, now I have a more secure fit and it is a bit more flattering.

It is also laced traditionally but I cheated and used nylon braided shoe laces, the leather laces were just too hard to pull through and adjust.

I would have to have help getting dressed with the leather laces, and I would need help getting out of too.

My Husband often heads out first and comes home later than me, nothing worse than being stuck in a straight jacket by yourself when you want to get loose!