What do you do with the long, dangling ends? If I wear the corset as top layer I'd be afraid they snag somewhere (and pull open the corset), if it's under clothing how do I stop a lump from showing? And this must have been a problem throughout the centuries, so what's the solution?
The only thing I can think of is to shorten the laces until there's only enough left for a small, discreet bow, but I'm somewhat reluctant to use scissors on my beautiful corsets...
I usually wear a corset as an over-garment and leave the ties dangling. I've never had a problem with them catching on anything or snagging, and a corset has never fallen off me in all the years I've been wearing them out - and that's from moshing in a nightclub to dancing on stage, as well as bedroom activities. (Even when I've wanted my corset to come off whilst on stage, it's a right royal pain!)
If you've pulled the corset in tight enough and spent time lacing yourself in properly, then even if it did come caught on something you would still need to do a lot of pulling and shimmying to actually remove the corset.
For wearing as an undergarment, it's pretty impossible to get a perfectly smooth silhouette by the time you take the knot, bones and general shape of a corset into consideration, but ome clever work at making the bow as flat as possible and tucking excess rope away under the lacing can help.
Your other option, as you say, is to trim the length of the string/rope so you have less excess after tying. To do this (so long as your corset is laced correctly and ties from the middle) you'll need to undo the 'permanent' knot at the bottom of the corset, and trim from there. Re-tie the ends when you're happy with what you've cut off and pull it all back into place until you have the two mid-spine loops back. Remember to leave enough excess for easy removal.
I hope that helps a bit!
All my corsets came with paracord laces, but I've swapped them as I find them far too bulky to deal with under clothes, and not very attractive outside of clothes. At first I tried double-sided satin ribbon, which looks very pretty, but it digs into the skin my fingers when I'm cinching. I'm now trying 3mm satin rattail cord, which is recommended by a well-known You-Tuber. It's a good compromise; much less bulky than cord and has a nice finish like ribbon.
I cut my laces to the shortest length possible (while allowing for the corset the be open wide enough to put it on without pulling on it) and once I've tied the bow in the middle, I tuck the excess laces into the bottom edge of the corset under the modesty panel and out of the way. (You can tuck them into the top edge instead if that's more comfortable.) This was impossible with the full length paracord laces, but it's not too difficult with the rattail cord, and very easy with ribbon laces.
On the very rare occasions I wear my corset as outerwear, I leave my laces untucked with just a bow, as Jess described. I did catch them on a door handle once, but the bow didn't come loose, and there was no chance of my corset falling off. Don't worry!
Caliente wrote:
All my corsets came with paracord laces, but I've swapped them as I find them far too bulky to deal with under clothes, and not very attractive outside of clothes. At first I tried double-sided satin ribbon, which looks very pretty, but it digs into the skin my fingers when I'm cinching. I'm now trying 3mm satin rattail cord, which is recommended by a well-known You-Tuber. It's a good compromise; much less bulky than cord and has a nice finish like ribbon.
I cut my laces to the shortest length possible (while allowing for the corset the be open wide enough to put it on without pulling on it) and once I've tied the bow in the middle, I tuck the excess laces into the bottom edge of the corset under the modesty panel and out of the way. (You can tuck them into the top edge instead if that's more comfortable.) This was impossible with the full length paracord laces, but it's not too difficult with the rattail cord, and very easy with ribbon laces.
On the very rare occasions I wear my corset as outerwear, I leave my laces untucked with just a bow, as Jess described. I did catch them on a door handle once, but the bow didn't come loose, and there was no chance of my corset falling off. Don't worry!
 hi
Hi Sub :)
:)
Your advice on corsetry is, as always, top notch, good to see you post, lets us know you're ok!
Thank you, Sir. There are aren't that many subjects here that I can give any advice on. I'm not a corset expert, but I'm wearing them a lot these days. :) I'm around even if I'm not posting.
Caliente wrote:
All my corsets came with paracord laces, but I've swapped them as I find them far too bulky to deal with under clothes, and not very attractive outside of clothes. At first I tried double-sided satin ribbon, which looks very pretty, but it digs into the skin my fingers when I'm cinching.....
Thanks for the tip, satin ribbon might actually work for me because I'm not planning on cinching this corset very tightly. Off to searching for some...
Lovehoney - Jess Wilde wrote:
I usually wear a corset as an over-garment and leave the ties dangling. I've never had a problem with them catching on anything or snagging, and a corset has never fallen off me in all the years I've been wearing them out - and that's from moshing in a nightclub to dancing on stage, as well as bedroom activities. (Even when I've wanted my corset to come off whilst on stage, it's a right royal pain!)
If you've pulled the corset in tight enough and spent time lacing yourself in properly, then even if it did come caught on something you would still need to do a lot of pulling and shimmying to actually remove the corset.
.....
Thanks, you are right, I notice it every time I loosen the laces to take a corset off. Or I would have noticed, if I didn't have childhood traumas from boys pulling on apron strings or tied belts...
Talia wrote:
Thanks for the tip, satin ribbon might actually work for me because I'm not planning on cinching this corset very tightly. Off to searching for some...
No problem. :) If you're using ribbon, double-sided satin is much better than single-sided.
Found some on ebay, probably single-sided because it was incredibly cheap (but I have so much that I can easily renew the laces if they get frayed), changed the laces (and discovered that they need to be much longer than I would have thought - almost 2 m, I believe), result works fine and looks good - only I'm still trying to think of an occasion to actually wear the corset!
I know exactly what you mean! The only time I've worn it outside my clothes to a "normal" event I got way too much attention because of it. Women were either excited and wanted to know where I got it, or horrified and wanted to know if it hurts. Men were interested for other reasons!