HI Michele,

Let me try to resolve some of the confusion here as I think I may have caused some of it:

First off, the original post that was made was a question about making a duct tape pattern for a man's doublet and the long note of info on duct taping that I posted was specifically geared towards doublet making not corsets.

BUT then we got on the topic of bodices and corsets and I mentioned that you could use the same methods (duct taping a person in a t-shirt) to make a bodice and/or corset pattern but I did not really explain the differences in how you do that very well so I will try to do that now:

When making a pattern for a corset using a t-shirt and duct tape you are not simply gently wrapping the body in duct tape as you would if you are using duct gape to make a dress form such as is shown in the photos you posted where the result gives a modern bust position.
When making a dress form as shown in those photos the idea is to copy all of the body's natural lumps and bumps in order to get a relatively accurate replica of the body in its natural state on which to make modern clothing.

When making a pattern for a period corset, you wear a very snug fitting t-shirt and use the duct tape to shape the body as you wrap it into the preferred tudor-esque smooth, inverted cone shape with the lifted and flattened bust line.

Once you have achieved the proper shape with the tape, you have essentially built a tape corset on your body that is holding your lumps and bumps in where you want them to stay. If you replicate this shape in a sturdy fabric such as canvas with boning the resulting garment will hold the body in the same shape that the tape did (i.e. that cone shape).

Before you cut it off, draw on the tape the outlines of what you want the finished neckline , straps, etc to look like. Then add your seam lines.

Cut the taped t-shirt off the body and cut it apart on the outlines and seams lines. These pieces will be the start of your pattern.

Take the cut apart pieces and lay them out on paper flattening them out as much as possible and weight them down with canned goods or sewing weights. Trace around them being careful to hold your pencil straight up so as not to undercut the edges as you trace.

Take away the taped pieces and look at the tracings.

HERE is where things get different between corset pattern making and doublet pattern making:

Unlike my suggestion for the doublet, with a corset pattern you DO want to straighten any curved lines and seams since with a corset you want to shape any lumps and bumps to your will rather than accommodate them (such as one would do with a large belly in a doublet).

Use a ruler or other straight edge to straighten out any curvy lines. When in doubt, it is generally better to draw a straight line that subtracts rather than adds. If you simply go to the point of the largest bump and draw a line down from that, you will be adding to the size and that will cause large empty voids in the corset when you put it on.

NOTE: IF a line is especially curvy, as can be the case with a large busted lady, it is often best to "split the difference" between the high point and the low point of the curvy line and draw a straight line that falls between the two - you will have to eye ball this.

Once you have your lines straightened up, cut out those pieces. This is now your "base pattern" it has no seam allowances but the pieces are all the shape that you want them to be.

Next, lay those base pattern pieces on paper, trace around them and then add whatever seam allowances you wish as well as any other pattern markings for grainlines, bone placement, etc. Cut these pieces out. This is now your cutting and sewing pattern.

OR you can simply compare these pieces to a ready made pattern you wish to use to see how much alteration will need to be made to the ready made pattern in order to get it to fit you right - If you plan to use the duct tape pattern for this type of comparison, I recommend that you use the pieces from your ready made pattern as a guide to draw matching shaped pieces on your duct tape so that you can compare "apples to apples".

People like to assemble their corsets in different ways, I most often use two layers of canvas (with the second layer turned 90 degrees so that any "give" in the fabric layers oppose each other and prevent unwanted stretching), mark and sew boning channels, insert the bones and then bind the edges with bias tape. I may or may not add a third layer of nice fashion fabric on the outside.

You can use this method to make any shape corset you want - what shape the corset holds you in is determined by how you shape yourself with the tape when wrapping.

Try thinking about it this way: If you have every seen or used the Custom Corset Pattern Generator at www.elizabethancostume.net/cust...html, that takes a handful of measurements and gives you plot points that you use to "connect the dots" to draw out a pattern on paper for a corset, the t-shirt and duct tape method is essentially a 3D version of the same idea. With the t-shirt and duct tape method you get many more plot points, most of which are already connected in the correct way and you just need to clean up the bits that aren't perfect. It's a lot easier to understand when you do it than it is to try to write/read about it.

I'll see if I can dig up some pix, but all of the corsets I have made this way essentially look like the pix you posted of your own corset and do shape the body into the desired cone.

IIRC, there is a ren clothes website out there somewhere where the seamstress used the duct tape method to create a nice effigy corset.

I hope this has been helpful,

Vel