Tag: corset shoppe

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Ms Martha’s Red Silk CorsetVest Review

This entry is a summary of the review video “Ms Martha’s Red Silk CorsetVest Review”. If you would like more complete information and side notes about the corset, you can watch the video on YouTube here:

Fit, length Center front is 15 inches, comes over my hips like a longline corset. I have a size Medium (waist of 22 inches). Very curvy hourglass silhouette.
Material 3 layers; a red silk fashion layer, stiff interlining and cotton twill lining.
Construction 4 main panels. The silk and the interlining fabric are flatlined, then panels are faux-flat-felled together. Floating liner inside. Bones are sandwiched between the layers of fabric. The collar fastens with velcro.
Binding None, the edges are folded under and topstitched.
Waist tape None. Ms Martha says her corsets are not for tightlacing.
Modesty panel Modesty panel has 3 layers of fabric, attached to one side of the corset and has a single vertical spiral bone running down it. Also the front has a little modesty placket on the knob side of the busk.
Busk Heavy duty busk, 13 inches long and 1 inch thick on each side, with 6 pins. Quite sturdy.
Boning 16 bones in this corset. 6 on each side are spirals, double-boned at the seams, and two sturdy flats sandwiching the grommets.
Grommets 24, 2-part size #0 grommets. These grommets and the washers both have a very large lip which I like. The inside of the grommets have a few very tiny splits, but it’s forgivable because it doesn’t catch on the laces.
Laces Flat braided nylon shoelace style in black; they have a little bit of spring to them. Bulky, but it glides through the grommets more smoothly than in the leather cincher. Very strong and difficult to snap.
Price Currently $225 USD in silk, $285 in leather.
CorseVest product photo (black brocade) in Martha’s Corset Shoppe.

Final Thoughts:

I am in love with this corset. I was initially apprehensive about buying one of these since Ms Martha said that they’re not designed for tightlacing, but wow is this thing ever sturdy. Despite the fact that this doesn’t have a waist tape, this easily took 4 inches off my waist and tapered my ribs down (temporarily). My bust was well-supported (due to the halter design, I couldn’t booble out if I tried) and my hips didn’t hurt. The outer fabric is silk and I initially expected it to be this delicate layer that I could barely touch. Nope. This silk has not stretched even remotely while I was breaking this corset in.

Now, be aware that I don’t know what will happen with your corset if you tightlace in this – mine has seemed to hold up fine – but there might be a possibility of a busk pin popping or a seam coming loose, if Ms Martha doesn’t give guarantees that her corsets stand up to tightlacing. I’m just putting that out there.

One thing I want to touch on is the sizing. These corsets run small. When I was looking at the size chart, a Small was recommended for natural waist sizes 20″ – 28″. Since my waist was around 27″ at the time that I ordered, I thought a Small would be great. Ms Martha strongly recommended that I go with a Medium instead, and I heeded her advice. I’m glad I did, because a size Medium has a closed waist of 22″. Apparently the size Small has a miniscule waist of only 18″ which would have been far too small for me! So if you are petite or around my size, consider ordering a size up. If you’re naturally on the fluffier side, then you will probably be able to reduce more than me, so order true. This store has the largest range of sizes of any off-the-rack store I’ve found to date, offering corsets for people with waist sizes 18″ up to 52″.

You can find the CorsetVest on Ms Martha’s corset shoppe page here, and for your consideration, here is Ms Martha’s size chart that has the “closed waist” corset sizes:

Small Medium Large XL 2XL 3XL 4XL
 18″  22″  26″  30″  34″  38″  42″
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Ms Martha’s Leather Geometric Cincher Review

This entry is a summary of the review video “Ms Martha’s Leather Geometric Cincher Review”. If you would like more complete information and side notes about the corset, you can watch the video on YouTube here:

Fit, length Center front is 12 inches, side is 8 inches, cut high on the hip and doesn’t pinch.I have a size Medium and it has a waist of 22 inches. Small has a waist of 18″; each size increases in increments of 4″. I advise you to order the size for your natural waist, or up one size if you’re on the upper end of a size.
Material Leather fashion layer, cut in a ribbon-corset style with horizontal panels. The inner layer is twill. I had to air out the leather for a week before the factory smell dissipated enough for wear.
Construction 5 main panels – 2 of them create most of the shape with horizontal stitching, while the vertical panels hold the hardware and boning. Floating liner inside, and 6 garter tabs.
Binding Black leather; folded under on the front and then clipped short on the underside – common in leather or vinyl binding to minimize bulk.
Waist tape None –  typical of a ribbon-style corset. Ms Martha says her corsets are not for tightlacing.
Modesty panel MASSIVE 10-inch wide back panel that has a single bone running vertically down the center. Leather on the outside and twill on the inside. Also has a 2″ wide leather placket in front.
Busk 11-inch long, heavy duty busk – one inch wide on each side. Quite a bit stiffer than the standard flexible busk.
Boning Total of 8 bones in this corset. 2 spirals on each side seam and 2 spring steels sandwiching each line of grommets in the back.
Grommets 24, 2-part size #0 grommets. These grommets and the washers both have a very large lip which I like. The inside of the grommets have a few very tiny splits, but it’s forgivable because it doesn’t catch on the laces.
Laces Flat braided nylon shoelace style in black; they have a little bit of spring to them. Bulky, so they don’t glide through the grommets quite as well as a thinner one would, but it’s still very strong and very difficult to break.
Price Currently $175 USD in leather, and $170 in silk.
Leather Geometric Cincher from Ms Martha’s Corset Shoppe ($185 USD)

Final Thoughts

This cincher has a beautiful shape – I think it’s one of my favorite shapes of my underbust collection. It is totally comfortable over my hips and feels very secure but not overbearingly tight around my ribs. Because this is made out of leather and twill, I feel that it has stretched out a bit, but not dramatically. Note that the leather did have a strong scent to it when I first opened the package, but I left the corset to air out for a few days in a ventilated room and the smell soon dissipated. Later on I did change out the laces – while the original ones were very strong, it was also quite thick so I experienced a lot of friction when trying to tighten the corset, making it difficult to put on and take off so I simply changed them with thinner shoelaces. But I still own and wear this corset quite often, a year later – you can see it in some of my later videos, like this dressing with your corset post.

Now, be aware that I don’t know what will happen with your corset if you tightlace in this – mine has seemed to hold up fine – but there might be a possibility of a busk pin popping or a seam coming loose, if Ms Martha doesn’t give guarantees that her corsets stand up to tightlacing. I’m just putting that out there.

One thing I want to touch on is the sizing. These corsets run small. When I was looking at the size chart, a Small was recommended for natural waist sizes 20″ – 28″. Since my waist was around 27″ at the time that I ordered, I thought a Small would be great. Ms Martha strongly recommended that I go with a Medium instead. Apparently the size Small has a miniscule waist of only 18″ which was been far too small for me! I later heeded her advice and she was very kind and patient with me about exchanging this cincher. A size Medium has a closed waist of 22″.  So if you are petite or if you are around my size, consider ordering a size up. If you’re naturally on the fluffier side, then you will probably be able to reduce more than me, so order true. This store has the largest range of sizes of any off-the-rack store I’ve found to date, offering corsets for people with waist sizes 18″ up to 52″.

So for your consideration, here is Ms Martha’s size chart that has the “closed waist” corset sizes:

Small Medium Large XL 2XL 3XL 4XL
 18″  22″  26″  30″  34″  38″  42″