A corsetmaker is a specialist tailor

Tailor

A tailor is a person who makes, repairs, or alters clothing professionally, especially suits and men's clothing.Although the term dates to the thirteenth century, tailor took on its modern sense in the late eighteenth century, and now refers to makers of men's and women's suits, coats, trousers,...

 who makes corset

Corset

A corset is a garment worn to hold and shape the torso into a desired shape for aesthetic or medical purposes...

s. Corsetmakers are frequently known by the French equivalent terms corsetier (male) and corsetière (female).
Stay-maker is an obsolete name for a corsetmaker. The word corset replaced the word stays after the Great Exhibition in 1851, because a prizewinning type of French stay was called the Hygienic Corset.

The best corsetmakers are highly skilled tailors with a knowledge of anatomy

Human anatomy

Human anatomy is primarily the scientific study of the morphology of the human body. Anatomy is subdivided into gross anatomy and microscopic anatomy. Gross anatomy is the study of anatomical structures that can be seen by the naked eye...

 that enables them to make well-fitting, long-lasting corsets. Corsetmakers who reproduce historical styles must be familiar with historical fashions and costume

Costume

The term costume can refer to wardrobe and dress in general, or to the distinctive style of dress of a particular people, class, or period. Costume may also refer to the artistic arrangement of accessories in a picture, statue, poem, or play, appropriate to the time, place, or other circumstances...

s that span centuries of history.

Individual corsetmakers often favour a certain style, and frequently have differing theories and opinions about the physical impact and benefits of various corsets, thereby influencing their corset design and creation.

Famous corsetmakers

• Thomas Paine
  Thomas Paine
  Thomas "Tom" Paine was an English author, pamphleteer, radical, inventor, intellectual, revolutionary, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States...
  
  , one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.
• Roxey Ann Caplin
  Roxey Ann Caplin
  Roxey Ann Caplin was a British writer and inventor.-Biography:She was born in 1793 in Canada. Around 1835 she married Jean Francois Isidore Caplin ....
  
  .
• Cathrine Allsop Griswold
• Daniel Kops
• Fakir Musafar
  Fakir Musafar
  Fakir Musafar is considered the father of the modern primitive movement. He has experimented on his own body with body modification techniques such as body piercing, tightlacing, scarification, tattooing, and suspension, and has documented, shared and taught others as part of his life's work...
  
  

Travelling corsetiers

Some companies had travelling saleswomen, corsetiers who order the tailored corsets from the company. Well-known is Spirella

Spirella

Spirella was a company which manufactured made-to-measure corsets. It was founded on a patent of dressbone, for bustles , but started corset manufacture in 1904. At its height it had factories in the USA , the UK and Sweden...

 (1904–1989), Barcley , Spenser .

Considerations

The main consideration of corset design is duration of use. For short-term use, e.g. used for a special event such as a wedding

Wedding

A wedding is the ceremony in which two people are united in marriage or a similar institution. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes...

, a corset will be worn briefly and so is not subject to wear, therefore need not be of the highest quality of construction. For long-term use, e.g., by tightlacing

Tightlacing

Tightlacing is the practice of wearing a tightly-laced corset to achieve extreme modifications to the figure and posture and experience the sensations of a very tight corset. Those who practice tightlacing are called tightlacers...

 or waist training, corsets must be made to exact standards and are best custom-fitted and designed for the individual wearer. Single weakness or flaws tend to be visible. Some custom-made gowns have corsets built into the design; a talented dressmaker

Dressmaker

A dressmaker is a person who makes custom clothing for women, such as dresses, blouses, and evening gowns. Also called a mantua-maker or a modiste.-Notable dressmakers:*Cristobal Balenciaga*Charles Frederick Worth...

 may also be a skilled corset-maker.

Example of a Corsetmakers work

The first step in a corset make is identify the customers type of body shape. The more fat, the fewer alternative corsets.

Slender Figures

Medium Figure

Stout Figure

See also

• Corset
  Corset
  A corset is a garment worn to hold and shape the torso into a desired shape for aesthetic or medical purposes...
  
  
• History of corsets
  History of corsets
  A corset is a garment that girds the torso and shapes it according to the fashionable silhouette of the day. Most often it has been used for cinching the waist and supporting the breasts....
  
  
• Hourglass corset
  Hourglass corset
  The hourglass corset produces a silhouette resembling the hourglass shape: wide bottom, narrow waist , wide top.-History:The first fashions worn with hourglass corsets, around 1830, emphasized width - they tended to have very wide skirts, large sleeves and sloping shoulders. These elements...
  
  
• Tightlacing
  Tightlacing
  Tightlacing is the practice of wearing a tightly-laced corset to achieve extreme modifications to the figure and posture and experience the sensations of a very tight corset. Those who practice tightlacing are called tightlacers...
  
  

Books

• Doyle R. (1997)Waisted Efforts, An Illustrated Guide To Corset Making. Nova Scotia, Sartorial Press Publications, ISBN 0-9683039-0-0
• Tight Linings and Boning Mary Brooks Picken, 1920
• The Practical Corsetiere Mme Ruth A. Rosenfeld 1933
• The Basics Of Corset Building, A Handbook For Beginners by Linda Sparks (Author) ISBN 0-9737358-0-5
• Caplin - Health and Beauty (1864)