Just finished these tonight (and I'm posting now! That's got to be some kind of record) - I needed new stays to wear with my as-yet-unfinished chemise gown for an event this Saturday.
Well, "needed." More like "wanted." You see, chemise gowns are made of thin fabric, and you can see a bit of the color of the stays through them. And I wanted to
strictly keep to a blue-and-white color scheme - and my current pair of 1780s stays are mint green. Dear me, that will never do!
The stays are half-boned, made of four layers: two layers of cotton canvas interlining, between which the boning is sandwiched (cable ties! I love those things! I use them for boning in everything); bone-colored silk on top of that, and ivory linen for the lining. I used the same ivory linen to make the binding for the stays (on the straight of the grain, for added fun!)
The silk is a herringbone weave, which doesn't seem to have been used in the eighteenth century (it existed, of course, just wasn't popular for some reason), but this was strictly a Stash project, and I didn't have much to choose from in terms of white or ivory fabric!
The stays are partially hand-sewn; I sewed the boning channels and sewed the pieces of the stays on the machine, but the eyelets, binding, and attaching the lining was done by hand.
In-progress shots:
![](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vDzZmfeZzeOZPw-evac0A5eYb-9NQRSpmStKSiQWTUFcDVaP_pxSl7HOK6_XZzl-FB5GNUgtLQ1wBqK6wCxnK5n20a3Q84DRGZFgTBzA8jUCVV2gYZzmasRbZETOpcPf6R-siZouYuh-RvmzVvkC-OVmZaBGYtnLTD_9k=s0-d) |
Inside view of the interlining; you can see the placement of the boning |
![](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vVys9aqe1qT7F5bQGUa8hGZrfUPDd4xBtWxEYYaGgzidqnfSph7t5L2QmbRZFgJsWy3XK1uS-uyTWxnaP-Ok-PnFVrfki_c-B5LooJhlQZDfHzi2OdBWLim61bDzTUNYXtW5E7Zz7SfvdRGmEa8sArNOVyP_fbHXdCUq4=s0-d) |
Closer shot of the CF piece, with a cable tie. Those notches are how I bend the ties to my will! |
![](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_s-ajjeAUX8z_79KeuXTvOgWaqGRSwVLgsJBeGDEsUcRvhkYcGAMO8HjJ6kKOIFTYGjCW1IRh3OK3Cy--fjYpTeivm7i_OU1NRxSVF6R9qQvFXy3_CFvBfwWdxbx-4qCnrrzDiwi3XSms00n84OB6w7G74HLQoLw-w40mstAZZnp5E=s0-d) |
Eyelets! |
![](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_t0ugcdGFNh2_mwB-sGJHd6FRlC7tgnqyWm7np0ul7peZY_Mhv7jQD8WGtYQh00xcHw8hQcEs3h3JhchvdXgo0-qJgNgE24XwHp0ELAgi-ZzFiC36PC0_FOCli2rIg1dNUC2YYjzZp7iiS-1m8oerfZkpmGGaYU0IOcDGz2PnGSeAmM=s0-d) |
Binding sewn round the tabs. I don't like binding tabs! |
They look great! And like they fit very well.
ReplyDeleteThank you! :)
DeleteThank you so much! Stays are one of the fiddly bits of costuming that I actually enjoy doing, and I have no idea why, but I'll take it! :)
ReplyDelete