Granger 12
- This article is a Biography
- Chapter 12 - Further Reductions
Ethel's pink sateen corsets at 19 inches had been followed by a pair in black sateen, with a white coutil lining. These latter had a waist line of 17 1/2 inches, and we were going down 1/2 inch at a time. They were not so long, but very high in the bust, so when she was finally tightly encased in these, laced to the limit, we were another step along the waist reducing programme.
It might be pertinent here, to explain the measurements of the waist line as we had them made. All measurements as given in this biography apply to the actual size of the waistline, inside the corsets. (A normal method of stating corset measurements and waist sizes.) For example, an 18 inch waisted corset, (on a NEW corset,) the waist measure was exactly 18 inches from busk to busk edge, so laced absolutely and tightly closed. This was therefore the measure of the body inside the corset, the measurement outside being slightly larger, depending on the type of material and the amount of boning. The measurement of the body inside the corsets would be slightly smaller than the corset waist measure, for Ethel always wore a silk vest underneath which would add something to the bulk, and sometimes she added padding of cotton wool.
Outside measurements of the waist would increase as we added the outside garments. We found that even a silk petticoat would add another 1/2 inch and a skirt with a waist band an inch or more. A belt for a corset this size (18 inches) would be about 21 inches if measured to fit over the skirt. For a thin, well fitted dress, a gain of an inch would be made, and a belt to fit over this would be about 20 inches.
However, as Ethel has wide hips, about 39 inches, the increase in waist size, due to over clothing did not matter too much, for these increased too in like proportion and the contrast between waist, hips and bust was indeed startling.
Another point we found, was that all material stretched with wear, so the corset waist would be an inch bigger before very long, and they were ready to be discarded. Sometimes we could get the corsetières to repair the corsets and then would have the waist reduced to its original size, which it then retained fairly well until worn out. The first pair of 17 1/2 inch corsets were badly made and gave at the seams very quickly. As the firm guaranteed these corsets we wrote to complain and they remade them entirely. However, they wrote back to say that as the waist size was an extraordinary it might be better if we got them made by a professional corsetière. These small sizes, they said, were difficult to make.
When the repaired corsets returned I relentlessly pulled in her waist, without mercy, for I was determined to get her waist in so I could clasp my hands around it. I must say she cooperated willingly, without complaint. But to make sure that she would not undo or tamper with the laces, I made a narrow steel belt which I pressed home when the corsets were laced in to the limit. This also helped to keep the corsets from expanding in the slightest. Since she was not able to undo the clasp of' the belt, she was held a prisoner all day, so I could rest assured that there would be no relaxation while I was away at work.
Some days she would almost faint off, but never right away, so gradually came to again. She was getting used to the terrific pressure, and I presumed that her internal organs were becoming adapted to the tiny size of her waist.
At last I had a pair made by them of smooth grey coutil; high in the bust line and low over the hips too. They were made on the lines of the famous Reducing Model of the 1930s, such as I had purchased for myself with one of the three pairs of suspenders, crossing over the busks from the waist line to their bottom. I had found that 3 pairs of suspenders on each side were better than two, for they kept the corsets down on the hips, preventing them from riding up. These were made in this fashion with a waist of 17 inches, the smallest to date.
When the familiar long oblong box arrived I opened it and threaded the laces, then put them round her body. To make sure that they would bed down into the proper places we had left the back open about 3 inches. Then began the task of pulling the laces to close up that large gap in the waist. The suspenders were the attached and adjusted, after which the real lacing began. Up and down the laces at the back, pulling in as we went, drawing the backs gradually but remorselessly together as she stood erect on her highest heels. To finish she got down on her knees, so her back was arched away from the laces at the back, so making it easier to get them together. Crossing the laces over at the back I pulled as hard as I could, literally lifting her body in little jerks, each one gaining an inch or so of lace, until I thought the material would split and her waist was as hard as a block of wood. While I laced up and down she did all she could to assist me by wriggling her body around inside to ease the pressure as much as possible. At last I could get no more for the moment so we called it a day. Her whole body was now encased in these grey beauties from armpits, tapering down to a beautiful long slender waist, of wasp like proportions, then swelling out over her large hip bones to her posterior. Due to the pull of the crossed suspenders, her abdomen was held quite flat, so she presented a most exquisitely straight fronted figure, set off by these lovely rounded hips and curving posterior, with a waist laced to the hardness of wood.
Within a week these severe corsets were laced completely to. Then for the first time I had that most wonderful thrill, of clasping my hands around her waist, so my fingers were touching at the back while my thumbs met at the front over the busks. She now had a true hand span waist and I would use every excuse and opportunity to clasp Ethel's waist, for it was a wonderful thrill to place my hands around that slender column and feel how tightly compressed it now was, until it felt like a billet of wood, but to know that it was really a human connection between bust and hips.
To run my hands up and down her stiff, corseted body was ecstasy beyond compare, and an experience few men could indulge in. I think my adoration of her lovely form was some recompense for the sufferings she had and was still enduring, for they did cause her to suffer some agonies. But once we had gained a bit of lace in at her waistline, then was no relaxation, so she just had to get used to it, which she did, in a very short time.
Waistbands on her skirts were taken in and her belt shortened to fit. Now her figure was really superb, and on her 4 1/2 inch heels, with the barbaric rings through her ears, with long black kid gloves, she must have appeared a striking figure to those who saw her. Even the fact that she never showed openly outside in a thin dress with a tightly laced belt, the very way she walked, the cut of her costumes, and her stiff swaying carriage betrayed the fact to the observer that she was a real tightly laced wasp. We had to get used to the stares of people we passed or met as we walked about. I feel sure that if she had put in her nose ring they would have stared no more, and accepted it. But we never we thought of that point.
As I have mentioned previously, the mail order firm we had been ordering from had indicated their doubt about their skill in cutting corsets of a smaller size, but I must say that this pair of grey coutil were delightfully cut and well made. Although she had had some trouble from some of the previous pairs it is true. They suggested we get them made by a proper corsetière, who specialised in small waisted type corsets.
At that time there were a number of advertisements in London Life and also the Sporting & Dramatic News. After writing, we received brochures from some of these, with styles and patterns of material, all the styles were well illustrated. Amongst them were such well known corset makers as Laurance Lenton, M Overett, Mme Lorette and Mrs Kayne. We tried Mme Lorette first of all as her prices sounded reasonable, I liked one of her styles and her materials too. She was then near the Angel at Islington. I sent off Ethel's measurements, selected the material and asked her to make a pair of straight front corsets, with a 16 inch waist. They were to be made in Black Broche with a pattern of pink or cerise roses worked in the cloth. I thought this would look extremely attractive on Ethel. We asked for a fitting when the corsets ware ready and shortly after we were able to go up to London, take the tube to the Angel, and soon found her shop in the High Street. In the window were several models of the old fashioned shape and cut, things to my eyes of exquisite beauty, with their sloping wasp-like lines. I could hardly tear myself away from the window.
Ethel's corsets were to be cut on the severe straight front style, which would give it a sloping oval waist line, throwing the bust forward and pushing the posterior into prominence at the same time. We had been experimenting with this type for some time and had found that as the waist was made smaller, step by step, there was a tendency for the stiff steel busks to bend inwards at the waist.
This was bad for several reasons: - First these inwards curves of the busks made them snap easily and this was a source of trouble and expense. In fact the breakages had become so frequent that we had bought a supply of long stiff busks, which could be cut down if required, with which to replace the broken ones. Secondly, this inwards pressure over the stomach and lower organs caused severe internal pains and troubles. Also it forced the abdomen downward and then allowed it to push forward, as was once fashionable with the old spoon busk style. This was not what we desired, for it did not conform to the true straight front style, with the flat abdomen we required in Ethel's case. It was forcing the womb and internal organs into a dangerous position. Furthermore the curves at the front reduced what would have been the curvature at the back, which we so much desired, and also reduced the curvature in to each side making a round waist instead of an oval one, narrower from side to side than front to back.
To cure the curving front, we had experimented with various ideas to stiffen it. We had read about wooden busk stiffeners and so made for Ethel to try out smooth rounded at top and bottom, about 12 inches long 1 1/2 inches wide and 1/4" to 3/8" thick made of black walnut or ash. We fitted a long pocket behind the front busks and after the corsets were fitted and laced I forced the wooden stiffener into the pocket. As these stiffeners went home she gasped with pain for were taking up some non -existent space within her corsets. But her front was pulled out into a straight line without any question. At the same time her back was arched into a deeper curve and the sides even more so, which gave the oval waist we needed. Ethel would wear these wooden stiffeners for long periods, until she became accustomed to them, but they were also so stiff and unyielding that they were difficult to work in. Metal plates were also fitted to several pairs of the busks instead of the thick wooden ones, but usually they were so flimsy that they did very little that the busks would not do.
What at we wanted was a steel plate 1½ inches wide of really stiff spring steel about 1/16" thick. At last I hit on the necessary stuff. I got the long blade from a nest of compass saws. This was about 16 inches long and tapered for its length from 2 inches to 3/4 inch at the narrow end. I cut it down to 14 inches and tapered it from 1½ inches to 1 inch at the narrow end, (used at the top of the corsets). I curved it forward at the top, where I wanted the busk to project and curved it backward it the bottom, so it would lift the womb, as well as forcing the abdomen backwards to give the flat front below the waist. It was therefore very stiff but springy, so sufficiently flexible to be comfortable when worn. It was just the answer to our problem, and I have made many since then. Even these will break occasionally, but probably will last for several pairs of corsets
However, Mme me Lorette had promised to fit some heavy plates behind the busks to give the stiffness for a straight front corset. When Ethel walked into the shop, she was greeted in a very friendly way, while Madame showed great interest in her figure. She asked Ethel how long she had been tightlacing and other questions for her information showing great surprise that, starting when she did, she had accomplished such a beautiful little figure such a short time. She said most ladies, if they have a waist to match yours would have started in their teens at least. When Ethel told her how her other corsets had caused so much pain at times, Madame exclaimed, ΓÇ£ΓÇ£Ma pauvre petite, I will see if I can cure that trouble.ΓÇ¥ΓÇ¥ She told me she had a man on her books with a 15 inch waist line, and several small waisted customers in addition, but not so many as small as Ethel, for waists her size were even then too rare.
She brought out the unfinished corsets for our inspection and assisted in fitting them round her body. She made several suggestions from the wealth of her experience. First of all, she said, if we wanted a straight front, it would be better if the corsets for Ethel were made only 4 1/2 inches above the waist in front and lowered to 6 inches above the waist at the back. This was about 2 inches lower than what we had ordered at the back and about 1½ inches lower at the front. As she was an experienced corsetière, we allowed her to have her way. Madame was surprised to find how tractable Ethel's waist was, and that she should be able to lace down, she said, much smaller in time seeing how easily she went down into her 16 inches and after what was a rather short period of training. She said in the old days, girls would begin training in their early teens to get a really tiny waist, and waists of 13 inches or less were accomplished in that way. Rarely did one see a waist so small in one who started in her middle twenties.
We were promised that the necessary alterations would be made and the finished corsets sent on within the week. She remarked that it was a pity there was now so little interest taken in waist cultivation as was customary twenty or thirty years before. In those days she said, she had many tiny-waisted customers on her books, but not many smaller than Ethel. It was nice to find someone so young still sufficiently interested to develop a wasp waist.
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