What to Do When Your Corset Doesn’t Fit Your Bust

What to Do When Your Corset Doesn't Fit Your Bust

It will come as no surprise to any woman reading this that our culture perpetuates an unnatural focus on youth, beauty, and the “ideal” feminine form.  We see it from even a young age, when pretty girls receive flattery and attention.  It’s all around us in advertising.  Even Barbie, with her outlandish proportions, mocks us for our normal, human bodies. Sadly, we don’t have a simple solution for this complex problem.  If we did, we’d probably be lounging on a tropical island, sipping mojitos and congratulating our genius selves.  What we can offer, however, is advice to women who want to use corsets to accentuate their curves and boost their confidence. What if you try overbust corsets and find that they don’t fit your body because of your bust?  What if the corset you order fits perfectly throughout the waist and hips, but it’s too loose or too snug at the bust, even though you ordered the right size? This can be a truly disheartening experience, but it needn’t be the end of your waist training journey.  With a couple of minor changes, you could see the shape-changing results you crave with a support garment that fits snugly and comfortably all around.  Here are just a few things to consider.

Loosey Goosey

To be honest, the main reasons a corset won’t fit your bust properly is not because your body is defective in some way, but because you’ve chosen the wrong garment size.  I know, I know, it fits perfectly in the waist.  How can it be wrong? The fit of a corset is not a precise science.  It will depend on many factors, including your particular dimensions, placement of fat and muscle in your body, the style of corset, and even how long you’ve been wearing it (and how tight you’ve laced it). Whether your corset is new or well-seasoned, it may fit perfectly in the waist, but feel loose around the bust.  In this case, the first thing you should do is check the spacing in the back.  When you pull the laces to your preferred tightness, you should see a gap of at least 2-3 inches between back panels.  If the gap is much smaller, it’s time to downsize.  You’ll still get a great fit in the waist, but your smaller corset should also fit better in the bust.

Squeezy Peasy

What if your corset is uncomfortably snug at the bust?  The obvious solution is to upgrade to a larger size, but what will this do to your waist compression?  Again, start by checking the back gap.  Is it significantly larger than 2-3 inches?  If so, you may be trying to stretch your current corset beyond its limits, and a larger one will better accommodate all of your curves.

Skip the Bust

If the gap between back panels is within an acceptable range and you’re still fighting a bust that doesn’t fit right, it may be time to consider switching to an underbust corset model.  The alternative, of course, is to have a corset custom made to perfectly fit your proportions, but this can be pricy.  If you’re looking for a comfortable solution on a budget, an underbust model will immediately eliminate bust sizing issues.

Also see: The Best Corset for Small Busts: Overbust vs. Underbust


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