O.J. Dalziel, one of our tight-lacing lifelong corset enthusiasts and email correspondents insists that one must start to lace a corset at the bottom and lace up to the waist fairly snugly, before going to the top. In this fashion, he says, the organs and flesh are lifted up, rather than pushed downward into the already "squished" abdominal cavity at the waistline and below. This makes sense to us as it would seem to avoid creating more of a belly under the front bottom of your corset. In addition, Mr. Dalziel also clips on his corset then before lacing, reaches inside the front of his corset to smooth his skin starting under the arm and moving it to the front center. Then he laces down, repeating this smoothing process once more before reaching closure of his corset. This keeps the skin to a minimum of wrinkling underneath the corset and helps to avoid excessive perspiration catching in multiple folds of skin. A dryer skin will prevent injury such as chafing or cracking under your corset.

To the left is a photo of "The ROMANTASY Salute", named by our friend David. If you are fortunate enough to have someone assist lace you in, it helps to lift your hands skyward and hold them up while being laced. This lengthens the torso and allows for more waist reduction than otherwise. Also, once you are initially laced in, lean to one side, grasp the bottom edge opposite to your 'lean', and pull several times downward, in order to "seat" the waistline exactly at your waist. Then, lean the opposite direction and repeat the process. Pay attention while you are wearing your corset during the day as it may sometimes tend to 'creep' up and press on the ribcage. At any time you may repeat the leaning process to 're-seat' the waistline in its proper position.

There are several common methods of lacing the back of a corset. The standard method is perhaps best represented by a graphic (top left image) we attribute to the Voller's Corset Company (England). Our preferred method enables the tight-lacer to completely and more easily close the back at the waistline. It starts with one set of lacing ribbons or cords criss-crossed at the top, followed by one set of lacing ribbons or cords criss-crossed under, followed by the next set over, and continuing thusly to the bottom where a knot or bow is tied off (middle left two images).

Another version of lacing that was prevalent in the Elizabethan Age in England, was spiral lacing. Just one end of a lacing cord travels through each eyelet as you lace from the bottom up. The lacing cord is tied under one of the bottom eyelets, then moves horizontally to the opposite eyelet hole and through it. It then travels diagonally up to the opposite available eyelet hole and so on to the top where it is again moved horizontally through the top two eyelets and tied off. In this style of lacing there are no waist pulls. This lacing was used on closed front corsets but is difficult for a person lacing him or herself to do alone. The corset must be donned with the back opening facing front while the lacing is undertaken, then the corset turned around and lacing finished off on the top. I think this would be extremely difficult to do on one's own!

Kimberly, one of our corset enthusiast friends prefers this style of lacing for her Elizabethan costume corsets and says, "This corset is cut so high in the back, that the lacing at the waist, where the tension is greatest and the corset is tightest against the body, can't really let go very much. Also, there area several inches of not-so-high tension lacing above it to hold it secure without tying it off at the top."