Thread: Deliberately shrinking a cotton corset.

I recently bought a longline cotton underbust corset with spiral boning and front busk. (The white pinstripe one from honour.co.uk). I love it, and the fit is very nearly perfect at 28" (it was on sale, and they no longer stocked 26"), but it could do with being just a fraction tighter all over.

Would it be wise to attempt to shrink it using a washer/dryer (in a protective bag?), or would I risk ruining the shape completely? I also plan to dye it a blackish colour too, should I do this in the preliminary wash?

I'd love to know if anyone has attempted anything similar.

Thanks in advance!

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In theory this should work, as long as the cotton wasn't pre-shrunk, as the bones and busk will keep the fabric taught lengthwise, but you would need to use a fairly hot wash both to set the dye and to get any real shrinkage, and this probably wouldn't be that good for the poor thing. Cotton coutil is pretty tightly woven, so I wouldn't expect more than about 5 to 10% shrinkage anyway.
I'ld only try it if you don't mind it going 'orribly wrong.

Viva