Grommet Placement
You may be asking yourself why I are taking the time to make a separate page to describe the placement of eyelets. "What does it matter, as long as the eyelets are placed firmly in the corset so that they will not pull through, that should be enough." Well firm placement is only part of the story.Let's say that you are wearing your custom-fitted corset underneath your favorite dress. You took the time to properly lace yourself in so the laces have even tension and you are comfortably constricted. Although you can't lace the corset closed yet, you made sure that the back edges of your corset are parallel to one another. As the day goes on, you begin to notice that the corset doesn't feel as comfortable as it did that morning. The corset feels tighter at the hips and ribs while the waist area does not feel as tight.
What happened? Did the corset stretch? Is it ripping? Are the laces stretching?
You arrive home that evening and undress down to your corset. You look at the front of the corset. Nothing has ripped, everything looks fine and the busk is still fully closed. You turn your back to a mirror and again, the corset looks fine. The eyelets are still firmly seated in place, the laces are intact, and appear to have not stretched. Then you notice that the top and bottom of the corset are closer to one another than they are at the waist. The two halves of the corset are no longer parallel to each other. What happened?
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On a properly fitted corset, the waistline (pink arrow) is under more stress than the chest and hip areas (green arrow). The corset wants to spread out at the waistline due to the greater pressure. |
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To the left is a drawing of the back of one of our corsets. Notice that the middle grommets (at the waistline) are placed slightly closer together than the ones on top and bottom. During the period when you can't comfortably lace the corset closed, there is a chance for the laces to spread at the waist (where there is more outward pressure). By placing the eyelets closer together at the waist the corset has the added strength to resist any outward moment there. Also, to help prevent this problem, we use very firm steels at the laces. The end result is that the corset stays in place. |
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These are two examples of a corset in which the grommets are evenly distributed laterally throughout the back. If the corset is not completely closed, the laces although properly tightened, have the tendency to spread at the waist where there is great pressure. The corset and laces do not stretch, so the tension is re-distributed to the ribs and hips. To the right is an example of what a corset with this construction looks like after a few hours of wear. When this happens, you may also feel a "popping" sensation from the back of the corset when you bend forward. This popping sensation will also occur if your corset designer chose flimsy steels near the eyelets. |  |