How to Pattern a Corset to Your Measurements 

Awesome!!! Thank you! That’s super helpful. The “1800’s size” is a myth though. It’s perpetuated by survivorship bias - the smallest garments are the ones that survived because they couldn’t be cut down and refashioned into other garments. Also companies like Symington kept examples of all of their corsets, and many of their competitors - in the smallest size, because storage. So any pattern taken from an extant garment is likely to be quite small. Abby Cox has a video packed with research on the subject, and Bernadette Banner has a more succinct one, with fewer statistical charts. As for the assumption that everyone was hourglass shaped, apparently that came from the expectation that you’d pad yourself out to that shape, working from whatever measurements you had. Why the hourglass being the only body shape, has survived into modern patterns, including size inclusive brands, when we haven’t been doing that for 100 years, I can’t tell you.

I cannot tell you how happy that baby paper corset makes me

I literally just spent my morning taping together corsets to get an idea of shape, but felt discouraged because I didn’t know how to scale or grade. The thumbnail with the tiny paper corset showed up on my TV as I packed up my supplies! Oh how wonderful! I had spent yesterday trying to figure out mentally how to do it and didn’t put the ideas of math and paper mockups together. Thank you!

This looks to be a really useful way of making a corset that will fit my non-standard plus size body. Thank so much for taking the time to explain how to do it.

Wow! That looked so "easy" in the end! I guess I won't venture into anything close to a corset any time soon, but it was great to see the process! The tiny model-pattern is such an interesting thing, I never heard about it. Thank you for the video!

Making the tiny paper model is such a good idea! The rest of it I would have eventually puzzled out (to much frustration!) but that step is such a genius idea to make sure you have the right bust/waist/hip measurements on the pattern.

This is so neat! and I LOVE the cute tine corset!!

i’ve been looking for patterns that would fit my body for a while this video is so helpful!!!

Ok, I will have to re-watch this multiple times and I will finally make a corset!! Thank you for this amazing explanation!!

I am so thankful for your video! So genius. I just made my full size paper mock-up. I'm going to modify it and make my first corset. I can't tell you how wonderful this is!! Thank you thank you! So excited to dive into this world. 💞💞

I've never seen anyone pattern a corset like this but that's a really cool and creative idea.

It works like a charm! I was really surprised. With your method I could fit a commercial pattern to my body and it fits like a glove. Thank you so much for sharing your method!

How fantastic is this?!? As 6 foot tall, very busty lady, this is a game changer for me. Now I don’t have to split and change each piece of a pattern, I can redraw it to size! Thank you!!!

Thanks, this is so useful for a sewing newbie like me, before this video I would not even have known how to put together a pattern, let alone how to scale it :)

Thank you so much I have been wanting to make a Victorian corset but am scared of not understanding how to draft one , But with ur genius techniques I am confident and excited to finally make one!! Thank you so much!! Oh and I just subscribed!!

This takes a lot of the mystery out of creating a pattern for a corset and doing this for different styles of corsets is as easy as finding the corresponding illustration, is that right? Just now getting to this after #CoCoVid and I am very grateful for a beginner-friendly demonstration of the process for visual learners. I'll be watching this plenty to follow along and that's when these things usually stick for me. Thanks so much, the music made all the difference in keeping the drafting chill for me and added to my enjoyment!

This is freaking GENIUS! Thank you!!

Can't believe I have only just discovered you guys! BEST. CHANNEL. EVER. Thankyou !!!

Hi there! I wanted to say a big thank you for this video. I struggled to find a corset pattern that fits my body shape and with this method I have now converted two and I am very, very happy with how they turned out. Thank you so much!

Just hopping on here to say that the info about the sizing on the 1890s and now is not really the case, people were of all the different shapes and sizes as they are today. The "myth" of the difference in eras comes from the size of the garments that survive as the ones that do are the ones that were worn the least or were better taken care of as they were more expensive. It makes sense that surviving garments are of smaller sizes and thats mostly bc they were worn by higher society or younger individuals. Working class and more everyday used garments survive less often as they were worn the most. Anyway i loved this video and just wanted to share some more info. Take care!

That's a technique that makes sense. So much work, but any corset will be a lot of work. Thanks!

Your math teachers must be so proud! Really great job ladies!

This is such a helpful technique! Can't wait to give it ago myself!

OMG I’ve been trying to do this for MONTHS!!! I think it’s finally clicked!

Wow such a great video - you have empowered so many of us - thank you :)

That was an amazingly concise demonstration! well done ; )

This is such an amazing idea! I have always preferred drafting on paper instead of digital manipulations. I can't wait to try it out. I think to maintain that super accurate silhouette you should just use the waist factor for all the lines and then pad out any difference in the bust and hips. If you are using a different factor for each line you are changing the overall shape of the garment, and slightly distorting the silhouette. The fashionable silhouette is all about the proportion of bust/waist/hips so why not maintain the same ratios they used.

M.I.N.D.B.L.O.W.N. 😯 such a simple concept, but still so genius! Thank you so much for the tutorial! ❤

Ooh this is a cool idea. I did something kind of similar (but messier, lol) for altering doll patterns at one point. Definitely saving your video for later reference! Thank you!

I really want to make a tiny corset now. 😁

This is brilliant! Really easy-to-follow explanation, thank you

Thank you both, I'm really enjoying your delivery style, and I learnt stuff, thanks : )

Wonderful where were you, girls, all these years? I'm going to try it out, pretty sure it will work, I will let you know. Thank you so much for this video.

This is very helpful, however I’m wondering how you would modify this pattern so that it would be an underbust corset. It would be very helpful for the project I’m trying to start!

Flipping amazing, thank you so much! I'm guessing that this technique works with other patterns too. I always struggle to make stuff for myself that actually fits me out of commercial patterns (mainly because I'm a noob, haha!) This technique looks like it would make that so much easier.

I have just learned how to use the ruler on an old photo program to adjust the patterns to roughly my size, usually I just need to alter width, I've been lucky in the underarm/hip measurement so far

This is an awesome video. So helpful and very well explained!

I'm so using this method to make myself a leather corset! this is gonna be awesome

This is sooooo helpfull thank you guys! I am a plussize with a huge hip, and historical and commercial corset patters alike would never accommodate that. So I thought there must be a way to scale those patterns up, and well here it is! Thank you so much for this technique I will definitely try this!

This was amazing!!!! I think I’m going to give this a try !!! If you have anymore hacks I would love to see them

Just tried this it is amazingly accurate. Thank you so much for sharing.

Very nice

I've invented the same method, but in glorious millimeters, and i'm not brave enough to show it as my personal exploration. It's all about coefficients, absolutely clear for an every sensible creature.

thank you guys

That was masterful. And without crazy graphs and cussing. Thank you!

Wonderful!!!! Thank you so much! Hugs from Brazil ❤️

This is super interesting and looks really useful! Thank you for making this video :]

Okay this makes perfect sense and I can't wait to try it.

I came looking for copper and found gold after clicking on this video

Genius! This is so fantastic!

Aww Thank You!! I will try it!

When you make a corset to your own measurements And you want it to cinch your waist, do you ise the measurement of your waist with shapewear (which is what you are aiming to achieve) or your exact measurements without?

Hola!, This can be done with the stays pattern ?

This video iis amazing! It is going to make making a corst so mch easier!

Thank you so much for this!

Great job. Thank you.

What about underbust corsets?

I have no idea if you’ll respond to this because the video is a year old, but when I print out the mini corset pattern, it fills an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper, landscape view. Not sure why mine prints so much larger. Can I still use the method you showed in the video if it’s a lot bigger?

I wonder how that'd work with my measurements. I'm on the large side and there's a 10" difference between my hips to waist and waist to bust. It'd be fun to experiment. See how it goes.

just awesome

Did you make corsets for individuals? If so how much do you charge?

interesting work. Did I miss the badge code?

This is so amazing! Where can you find tiny patterns like this?

Brilliant!

Do you have to do anything extra to accommodate a swayback/hyperlordosis?

Very smart!

I found my next summer project!

Is there any kind of method for centimeters? I'm not having a great time with inches. Welcome to Canada, not ideal for sewing measurements.

Omg y’all this was sooooo helpful..... now I do have question....do this go the same for other clothing pieces where they have smaller models like this one for to determine true fit patterns when made for life size

Do I have to print the paper pieces the same size so it works ?

I tried this and I only just made the first pattern piece, doesn't look quite right.....

i loveeeeeeee watch this video. thank u so much

Instead of using a grommet closure, do you think I could do the entire back in a slight stretch fabric? I'm trying to make a corset out of an old dress and I just don't think I have enough material for what I want to do. Would doing this mess up how the corset lays or do you think I could get away with it?

Wonderful method! I can't wait to try this out. I have a question, though. Where can we access those patents? Is there a website or data base that you could give us a link to? I would love to be able to see all of the different patterns that are available. Thanks!

how do i determine my paper’s half proportions? do i add up all of the measurements and then divide by 2 to get the bust 1/2?

How do you get the 2 points on pieces 2-6. Thank you so much for this video; it has helped me a lot.

My waist to my high hip measurement is literally one inch.

What..? Im so confused...

I'm not all the way through this yet, and this seems like a good tutorial but making it in half size is majorly throwing off my ability to understand this.

I wanna do this but idk how to draw🙂

This is a joke! I had been staying awake at nights looking at my ceiling thinking I would never understand pattern making and this video existed? Who was going to tell me? And what are y'all doing that these girls have only 912 subscribers?

Maths 💙

Wow people from the 1880s were the size of dolls? Had no idea

i'm still lost at the computation :'

Can I pay ya'll to do all that math and and making the pattern? LOL

Why shouldn't a pattern from the 1880s fit someone average to that size? Women use to put a lot of padding where the corset was too Big for them so nothing has changed really. Remember that in the past humans where humans never mind the size and also tailored clothing also existed. One size fits all is wasn't a thing back then

There is no difference in the size of 18th-century people to 21st-century people...