This post is a summary of the Bad Button Bridal Corset Review video, which you can watch on Youtube if you prefer:
| Fit, length | This corset was a sample from Etsy, so it was not made to measure – however any corset you commission from The Bad Button will be custom fit to your measurements, so the measurements of my piece is a bit moot. But for the curious: Center front is about 11″ high, but on the sides the corset is only 9″. The silhouette is an hourglass, the ribcage is about 5″ bigger than the waist, and the hips are also about 10″ bigger than the waist. |
| Material | Likely 3 main layers: fashion fabric is white bridal satin, backed onto a strength layer (The Bad Button always uses coutil for custom commission) and a sturdy white canvas-style lining. |
| Construction | 11 panels, with an extra wide center front panel (closed front). External boning channels laid down over the seams, and floating liner. No garter tabs. |
| Binding | Blue contrasting satin bias strips (matches the boning channels/ embellishment), hand-finished with an invisible stitch; incredibly tidy. |
| Waist tape | White waist tape (perhaps 1/2″ or 3/4″ wide) extending through all panels of the corset – invisibly secured between the lining and interlining of the corset. |
| Modesty panel | No modesty panel in this sample, but if you requested one in a custom commission it can be accommodated. Closed front, so no placket needed. |
| Busk | No busk (closed front) – instead, there are four 1/4″ wide flat steel bones keeping the center front sturdy. I call these “magic bones” because the stitching for the boning channels are not visible on the outside or inside of this corset! |
| Boning | 18 total bones (including the four magic bones in front). Single boned on the seams with 1/4″ wide spirals, in external channels. Flat steels sandwich the grommets in back. |
| Grommets | 22 grommets total, size #00 two-part grommets with medium/large flange; set equidistantly – held in very well. |
| Laces | 1/2″ wide double-faced satin in matching blue – extremely long. |
| Price | At the time that I’m writing this, to commission this piece (or something similar) custom made for you would be $425 USD. |
Final Thoughts
The Bad Button is run by a delightful and meticulous woman named Alisha in Kentucky, USA. Her careful attention to detail is nicely demonstrated in the embellishment on this bridal piece – it looks rather simple at first, but the more I studied it, the more care I realize went into this piece. It takes a lot of patience and careful measuring to keep the criss-cross ribbons perfectly symmetric, and over 100 pearls in the front were all carefully hand-stitched – additionally, the entire motif was hand-stitched onto the closed front of the corset, which also features the “magical bones” that keep the center front flat, yet do not show any channel stitching on the outside nor inside. The finishing must have taken an incredible amount of time and does not go unappreciated.
I love how the grommet panel is done; there is another purely decorative “channel” of blue contrasting satin laid down before the grommets were set. The grommets have to be set perfectly aligned in order to make the back look tidy, and Alisha does an extremely good job of this. She mentions that she also uses a 2-part setting process in the grommets (hammer and press) to ensure that they are set very securely.
The ribbon laces in the back are extremely long (at least 10 meters) which are both useful for widening the back of the corset to get in and out of it (since it’s a closed front), and they would also be lovely trailing down the train of a wedding gown. But if you don’t like having such long laces, you can easily cut them shorter and seal the ends with a flame or hotknife.
If you would like to see some other creations by The Bad Button, visit the main website or Etsy store.