I went on a road trip with some corset making friends to the Snibston Discovery Park Leicester.
The trip had been organised by Foundations Revealed and we were kindly given permission to view, handle and photograph some of the amazing collection of corsets held as part of the Symington Collection.
I had the opportunity to talk with Philip Warren and Sarah Nicol, both of whom work closely with the collection. I learnt about how the corsets are stored and one method of dealing with moths (freeze them – put the garment in a bag, stick it in the freezer for 2 weeks. This will kill off any moths but not the grubs. Take the bag out, leave it sealed for another 2 weeks allowing the grubs to hatch. Stick it in the freezer again to kill the newly hatched moths and in theory this should break the cycle).
We also discussed ‘celluloid type’ boning and how an Edwardian ‘bust improver’ worked.
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Photos with permission from Leicestershire County Council Museums Service; Symington Collection.
There are more photos on Flickr here
