If you have ever wondered why there is a dearth of sizes when trawling through on-line patterns, the following set of photographs might go some way to explaining (in layperson terms) why this is. It is down to the huge number of variables. I spent months a few years ago grading bra patterns and incorporating them into my cupped corset patterns - Abi and the Crescent designs accommodate a large number of cups but they still fall short on some of the super bust sizing. I attempted to go further with Pippa but that isn't a cupped design.

The Merry Widow that I am currently working on is an adaptation of Abi - there are differences in the panel shapings because of the incorporation of stretch materials, but I have reused my wire/ cup/ CF seam lines. I added up all the corset sizes/ wire & cup scenarios and there are 170 variables. It's why a lot of pattern designers stop at an E cup - it's a daunting task.