Stay-ing Alive: Undergarments Completed!
Hello again! And apologies for such a long delay in between this and my last sewing post in “Sew-Isolation.” It’s taken me a while to finish my latest project, but I made it to the finish line today - and boy was it a good feeling finally putting the last few stitches in! I have a love-hate relationship with this particular item of clothing, which is:
The Stays:
I used Butterick 4254 view D (the front lacing 18th Century stays in the bottom right-hand corner) because I’ve found it to be a comfortable pattern that fits my body type. I have quite a long body, so other patterns can often sit more like Regency corsets than proper stays on me - but this one I’ve tried and tested.
here’s an in-progress shot of my stays (exactly half-done, haha) and pictures with some beautiful early 18th century narrow hoops I purchased from the wonderful Nehelenia Patterns over on Etsy!
Now for the love-hate part.
I love the look and fit of the museum stays and professionally,beautifully made stays you can often see on the Internet. They look gorgeous, and well-made ones are surprisingly comfortable and supportive for the larger-boobed historical lady. But OMFG stays are the very devil to make. they make you pay with sweat and blood and a lot of creative swearing! ( or they do when you’re not very good at making them, anyway)
Those boning channels! Arrrrghhhhh. Which is why this update took so darn long! I also handsewed all the eyelets, which I think added up to about ...44 overall? But I managed to use actual reed boning rather than cheap plastic rigilene, and that was a real revelation - reed is flexible, but easy to cut and both period appropriate and very, very “green” and sustainable - I found it MUCH easier than the first few times I tried making corsets with cheap rigilene. And I’m very happy with the finished result, so... win?
Oh, I do love the silhouette of stays! That curved seam *chef kiss* looks pretty, even with my lumpy sewing!
Next time I check in, I’ll be making actual garments and starting on the Gold Gown!