More 1790's stays

The stays are coming along very nicely and I think they will be finished pretty soon.

Most extant stays I have read about are finished pattern piece by pattern piece and then whipstitched together. However, there is an Swedish example in Brita Hammar and Pernilla Rasmussen's Underkläder that have been put togther with the right sides of the pattern pieces put together and then stitched like that. It is noted that these stays probably wasn't made by a staymaker, but as I'm not a staymaker, I don't feel bad that I make them like that. I started with sewing the front and back together, putting the right side of the bottom layer of linen to the right side of the silk (which has been basted together with the second layer of linen previously).

I then pressed the seams, folded so the right sides are, well, right, pressed again and then basted the three layers together.

Then I sew all the pieces togther, pressed the seams and stitched them down. It should be noted though that I have never seen stays being made that way so I don't claim any historical acuracy here, but it works for me.

The boning channels were next. My original plan was to make the stays fully boned, but after looking through Underwear: Fashion in Detail I fell for the green stays on page 122, which has pretty cross-stitched decorations. I'm not copying the boning pattern, or the decorations slavishly, but I'm using that for inspiration. The boning channels are sewn with white linen thread that I inherited from my grandmother- she used it in lace-making. I like it, because the stitches shows up better than with ordinary thread. The boning channels are 1 centimetre wide and the channels for the decorations either 5 or 8 milimetres wide.

The lacing holes are sewn with the same linen thread, vaxed. One of these day I'm going to becoming great at sewing them, but that day isn't here yet...

Another alteration to my original plan was the decision of binding the stays with chamois leather. A little digging brought me a supplier in Sweden and it took me two days to get it. It's very soft and supple and has a pale yellow colour. To rest my hands a little a took a pause in making the lacing holes and cut out strips of the leather and bound the stomacher. I can tell you that with a sturdy needle it was no problem at all to sew on a machine. The leather is quite stretchy and it was very easy to sew the point of the stomacher. I wouldn't sew the binding of a pair of tabbed stays a machine, but I will on this pair.

Folded over and stitched to the backside. The binding is 5 milimetres wide and much more padded than a fabric binding. Not a bad thing when it comes to stays.

My next step will be to cut out the shoulder straps and attach them. Then decorate the stays, my plan is to use white and pale yellow silk for the cross-stitch. Boning, binding and then put in the lining. It's a fun project and I look forward to try them on.

Extant 18th century stays in Sweden

While searching for inspiration for my 1790’s stays I looked through the online collection of stays and bodices belonging to Nordiska museet in Stockholm. And though the text is in Swedish, I thought it could be interesting anyway. The photos are, I’m sad to say, not very large. I have added a short description with every link.

An absolutely gorgeous pair of white brocade stays, 1730-1770. Fully boned, back laced, lined with linen and bound with white leather.
http://www.digitaltmuseum.se/things/snorliv/S-NM/NM.0022164?pos=1

Front laced stays in “sämskinn”, (the only translation I can find are deerskin, which doesn’t seem quite right. It’s pliable and rather thin leather anyway.) 1750-1760. Said to have belonged to a priest’s wife in the provinces. And unusual shape, I think, not as low-cut as stays usually seem to be. Ten fabric pieces and 20 boning channels. Boned with whale bones, and, probably, steel outside the lacing holes.
http://www.digitaltmuseum.se/things/snorliv/S-NM/NM.0004796?pos=2

Fully boned stays in ”sämskinn”, 1750-1770. Back-laced and lined with sturdy linen. More robust whalebone horizontally at the top front and along the waist. Possibly originally a bodice in silk that has been altered into stays.
http://www.digitaltmuseum.se/things/snorliv/S-NM/NM.0001007?pos=1

The museum also has stays that doesn’t have photos (grumble grumble) but descriptions that really wets my appetite.

A bodice to a robe de cour in white silk, 1770-1779. The shape similar to other robe de cour bodices, but the inner layer has probably had stiff paper glued to it before the outer silk layer was attached, which I find interesting.

Stays with a stomacher, 1770-1779 in tan silk.

Stays in unbleached linen, 1740-1760. Back laced, made out of 12 pattern pieces. Bound in “sämskinn”, at the lacing holes pink in colour. Boned with whale bone with a sturdy steel boning set horizontally at the top front. The lining attached after the boning channels were sewn.

Stays in dark brown leather. The museum dates it to 1720-1729, but the stays are dated on the inside with “Anno 1687”. Wouldn’t it be interesting to see them? I wonder if they may be 17th century stays after all. Only four pattern pieces, the side seams well into the back, 12 tabs. The description is a bit fussy, but probably back laced. Bound with “sämskinn”. No mention of boning, but I’m not sure if it’s because the stays suffer from still have a text written when it was acquired (1907) or if it hasn’t any.

These below are not labeled stays (”snörliv”) but bodices (”livstycken”) and have been worn in rural areas in Sweden. Their shape are very close to modern folk costumes in Sweden, though today they are rarely boned and there are indeed unboned bodices from the 18th century too. Anyway, I find these interesting because I have often come across the notion that working women didn’t wear stays. But I find some of these bodices more akin to half boned stays than a bodice. They do seem, however, to have been worn visible, more than as an under garment. Also boned with reed instead of whale bone. Horror upon horror- the wench costume may not have been so historically inaccurate anyway. At least not if you are a Swedish peasant woman.

Bodice in brown sturdy calf skin. Front laced and lined with sturdy linen. Boned with 18 bones, probably reed, except at the lacing holes were it is steel. Overlapping tabs, like scales and a rather pretty inside with patches of leather to enforce the ending of the boning channels.
http://www.digitaltmuseum.se/things/livstycke/S-NM/NM.0001252?pos=145

Bodice in fine blue linen, 1790-1820. Front laced and tab-less, half boned with reed. Very decorative boning channels sewn in white linen thread.
http://www.digitaltmuseum.se/things/livstycke/S-NM/NM.0011974?pos=39

Similar bodice in red wool, 1780-1820.
http://www.digitaltmuseum.se/things/livstycke/S-NM/NM.0031360?pos=44

Bodice in cream-coloured ”sämskinn”, 1750-1799. Front laced with overlapping tabs and sparely boned with reed, steel at the lacing holes. Bound in white leather and have a pretty decoration in pinked white leather. Lined with linen. Supposedly made as an engagement gift.
http://www.digitaltmuseum.se/things/livstycke/S-NM/NM.0194150?pos=31

Bodice in green wool, 1780-1820. Boned with reed at the lacing holes and the seams, boning channels sewn in white linen thread. Lined with linen. http://www.digitaltmuseum.se/things/livstycke/S-NM/NM.0009162?pos=179

1790's stays in progress

The fashion of the 1790’s is reeling between the earlier 18th century and the upcoming Regency fashion, and stays seem to reel too. My love for the 1790’s is quite new, but in the last year I have made three gowns from that period, so I felt that it was about time to make a pair of stays that were more correct for the period. Then I got really inspired when Katherine Hay posted about an extant pair in Corsetmakers in December. I want stays like that, the kind that are more like earlier 18th century stays in shape, but shorter and tables. For a pattern I once again turned to Norah Waugh and based my pattern on the front and back-laced pair that have the four stuffed balls attached to the back. I used the pattern I drafted for my un-finished stays as a template and came up with this. Picture of those can be found this old post on my stay-making history.


Mats made sure I did it correctly.

I’m making it out of two layers of white linen and one of light blue silk taffeta. I also added a small stomacher. I have never seen that on stays from that period, but my weight fluctuate a bit and I want stays that I can use even if my weight differs. There will be shoulder straps too, but they aren’t cut yet. Here they are with the silk basted to the linen.

You may wonder why the silk doesn’t completely cover the linen. Well, that has to do with the fabric. Last summer I planned to make a striped robe battante. I wanted it in light blue and white and found the perfect fabric. I ordered and the colours were exactly what I wanted! However, the stripes were not 8 centimeters wide as I thought, but 8 inches… Totally my own fault as the website clearly states the width. So, no robe battante. I do have some plans for the fabric, but there’s a lot of it and I liked the idea of pale blue stays. However, 8 inches are wide, but not as wide as my pattern pieces, so some piercing was necessary.

I know that it would have been easier to choose another fabric, but I got set on having them in this colour, so piercing it is.

I am now in the process of assembling the stays and I hope to show more of them next week. Though I’m full of admiration for those who hand sew their stays completely, my hands can’t handle sewing through all those layers. So I use my machine for assembling and boning channels and then hand stitch the lacing holes and the binding. My plan is to make them fully boned with stitching and other details in white.

Corded stays

I finished these four years ago, but somehow never got around to show them. Corded stays made of pink linen, made after the directions on Festive Attyre and using the Custom Corset Pattern Generator to make the pattern. I have never used them, as I don’t have anything to wear over them, but now that I feel so tempted to make a German gown, they will be of use.

Oddly enough, as my weight is (sadly) once again the same that it was when I made them, the stays don’t fit as well as they did back then. This is why I show them on the dress dummy. My weight has redistributed itself and my waist is narrower while my breast has gone in the opposite direction. So while I can lace them completely shut at the waist, I have a much bigger gap over the chest that I used to.

So I think I will need to make a corded stomacher, otherwise the lacing will be a bit uncomfortable as my more...squishy parts… I don’t think I have any pink linen left, so it will have to be white. Of course, I could do new stays, but I don’t wasn’t to, not right now.

The dress dummy that is closer to me in size, is currently not available, that is why the stays are photographed on a smaller one.