This entry is a summary of the review video “AZAC Curvy Girl Corset Review & Modification” which you can watch on YouTube here:
Fit, length | Curvy, extreme hourglass silhouette. Slightly longline over the hips. Waist stretched over time (about 1.25 inches).The longest part of the corset at the center front is 12.5”. Good for people with an average-length torso. Has enough room in the ribcage and hip areas; very comfortable. May accentuate lower tummy pooch due to inward bend at the front waist. |
Material | Mostly 3 layers. The fashion fabric is a lightweight hot pink satin (it’s available in other colours), and is flatlined to a light woven cotton underneath. The strength layer of the corset is the twill lining. |
Construction | 5 panel pattern with 1 large hip gore per side. Top-stitching between panels. It looks like external boning channels but these are simply decorative and only sewed to the top pink satin; the boning is inserted into channels created between the twill lining and strips of canvas laid down inside. |
Binding | Baby pink satin bias binding around the hip gores and around the top and bottom match the decorative channels, and are machine finished on the inside and outside. |
Waist tape | 0.5″ wide invisible waist tape between the interlining and lining. |
Modesty panel | Single layer, unboned modesty panel in the back made from the same hot pink satin. There’s also an unstiffened modesty placket in the front under the busk. |
Busk | Standard flexible busk (1/2″ wide on each side), 11″ long with 5 pins. Busk is reinforced by a ¼” flat bone on each side. |
Boning | 14 steel bones not including busk, all ¼” wide flat steel. They’re finished nicely, but they are extremely flexible. This is alright where it curves over the extreme hip spring, but the bones don’t feel sturdy in the back by the grommets (tends to bow outward at the waist). |
Grommets | 20 grommets total; 2-part (includes washer) and in size #0. I think it could have used about 4 more grommets near the bottom, which I put in later. Grommets are sturdy with a large flange, there is no fraying around the material, they’re not pulling out, although the ribbon catches a tiny bit on a couple of the split grommets in the back while I’m tying it up. |
Laces | Half-inch wide double-faced satin ribbon that matches the decorative binding and channels. Very strong, hasn’t frayed much even with the slight catching on the grommets. |
Price | Currently $165 USD |
Final Thoughts:
Don’t get me wrong, I adored the shape of this corset. It was indeed a corset for curvy girls! I was just torn on how light it was. Anyone who has handled a few real corsets can know how deceptively heavy a corset can be, but this one was as light as, say, a t-shirt. I loved it because it didn’t feel like a burden to wear, but was slightly concerned that it might not have been steel boned.
I decided to do a little dissecting (nothing that I couldn’t repair again) and was relieved to find that it did indeed have flexible flat steel bones. For good measure and ease of lacing, I replaced just the bones in the grommet panel, and also added a few more grommets. I also boned and suspended the modesty panel, although that has no real bearing on the corset itself. The rest of the corset – quality of the grommets, twill strength layer, internal waist tape etc – are of typical off-the-rack quality, which I was satisfied with.
To see the Curvy Girl corset and other styles made by Azrael’s Accomplice, you can find their site here.
At last! Soemone with the insight to solve the problem!