Sweating is an important bodily function – through perspiring, our body cools itself.
But there are aesthetic side effects to this process. Most noticeable, is the dreaded sweat patch.
When I wore my Symington Pretty Housemaid Corset for four days of hot-weather garden work, I soon found myself faced with the sweat issue … Except, I was more worried about the effect of sweat on my corset than I was on visible sweat marks on my shirt!
Ten years ago, I bought a bunch of craft supplies from a lady who was moving to the other side of the States.
In the drawers, I came across a collection of “dress shields” – lined with rubber.
I knew that these barriers existed (or at least did in the past), but when wearing my corset, I couldn’t find where I had stashed my collection of dress shields.
So one day I came in and actually traced the sweat marks on my shirt.
Laugh if you want. But I figured that if I could make a sweat guard to the size of my sweat patch, all would be well.
Funnily enough, when I did find my dress shield collection, the size of the patch I’d traced matched theirs pretty well!
Here are high resolution photos of the dress shields in my collection.
And here is a pdf of the pieces I used for my own DIY Dress Shield.