Great care should be taken in the adapting the stays to the figure, and this will be best affected through a gradual process of tightening. When put on in the morning, they should be laced moderately tight, so that the firmness of the pressure may just be felt, and then be allowed to remain an hour or more untouched; for the warmer the stays get, the easier will they be to tighten, and the process of tightening should be repeated every now and then, until they can be got no closer.
The waist should be made (especially for those who have never worn stays) 4 inches smaller than the real measure, and as new ones are made greater reductions may be made; but care should be taken that the constriction required should be gradually attained, and not by any sudden application of great force. If this caution be observed, almost anything may be done, and the result obtained, even by the extremist possible tight-lacing, will be most pleasurable.