Podcast Episode 10: Corsetry Goodness with Cathy Hay of Foundations Revealed

I understand Elizabeth, it's frustrating to feel that you're the "wrong" shape for the pattern. But the pattern is there to serve you, not the other way around. If you're costuming, the pattern has to do the work to make you into the fashionable shape of the period you're going for, whatever your proportions. In some spots that's done by shaping of the panels to put your bust in the right location (pushed up, flattened down, spread apart or smooshed together, depending on fashion's whims), and in some places it's done by padding. The point about padding is that it's often overlooked in favour of believing that everyone just laced themselves down into tortuous pain. In fact, padding was used together with lacing to re-proportion various parts of the body to conform to the overall silhouette that the period demanded – which could be done regardless of size. In your case, maybe the hips were padded to come into proportion with the bust. It's freeing when you realise how much they were doing with what nature gave them to re-sculpt themselves to the shape they wanted.

Hi ladies! I love the podcast, but it can be really frustrating to listen as the volume levels are so inconsistent. I listen on headphones, and in every episode I get my eardrums blown out because I have to turn up the volume to hear most of the episode, then an extremely loud burst of laughter or cheering will make me have to yank off my headphones because it's so surprising. Please please please see if there's any way to equalize the sound so your listeners can not have to worry about sudden explosions of loudness in an otherwise very quiet podcast. Thank you so much, and I look forward to listening if you all can get this fixed.