My First Pair of 18th Century Stays
Some of my inspiration for the shape and look of my stays:
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/85332?img=1
This explains very well how to measure yourself
for a corset or stays. I didn’t have anyone to help me so it took an awful
amount of time. Get someone to help you.
After scouring the internet for a pattern for 5 part fully
boned stays, or at least an explanation of how to draft them, I gave up and
drafted a 2 part half boned stays pattern using this explanation and pattern:
I then taped them together and cut them into five pieces the way it kind of seemed like it should look here and here
I made the tabs 8 cm long. I’m not sure if I made them the right length or shape or direction, we’ll have to see.
Just so you understand- when they say “5 part pattern”, or
“5 part stays” they mean the pattern has five parts, not the stays. So
with a five part pattern, you will have nine pieces of cut fabric (per layer)
for back lacing only, or 10 pieces for both back and front lacing.
If you have a pattern and just want to know how to adjust and adapt it to your body, this might be useful.
I have never adjusted a pattern I didn’t draft from scratch,
so let me know if it works.
Also, this pattern generator might be useful, but it’s for
an Elizabethan Pair of Bodies, and the shape is slightly different.
I am going to use the stiffest fabric I have in my stash for
the inside layers. I’m not really sure what it’s made of, it looks and feels kind of linen-ish. I suppose next time
I’ll use proper heavy weight linen,
I bought grey bias tape for the binding, and grey satin ribbon for the lacing.
I cut out the pieces, leaving 2cm seam allowances on the
sides only.
(the puckering is from the pins in the paper. Note to self:
buy fabric weights)Each pattern piece is cut out times four, making four fabric pieces, with the front and back pieces (A and E) cut on the fold, making two fabric pieces.
I sewed the pieces together
Taped boning (zip ties) to it in strategic places, and tried
it on (read: I made my brother try to make the edges meet in the back).
Wow! It looks like stays!
See fitting advice:
And guess what? The edges met in the back. Too big! Where
should I take it in? I decided on the seam between piece E and D, because the
rest of the seams seemed to be in the right places. I would have just shortened
E from the end, but I have a fold there. I took it in 2 cm on top and 1cm at the waist. Next time I just need to make the gap in the back bigger on the pattern.
You can see the original seam over the blue pen line and the
new one the farthest away from it. The one in the middle was my first try.
On to the fashion layer!
I was going to use some plain white linen that I had in my stash, but
then, while shopping for something else, I found some pretty printed linen. It’s
probably not historically accurate to the 18th century, because of
the paisley, but it’s pretty, so I’ll use the white linen for the lining…
I have realized that I have come to the time in my sewing
life, where I no longer fear to cut into fabric. Yay!!
While cutting, I realized that because the paisley pattern is so
big, and only goes in one direction, I had pattern matching problems. I wound
up cutting the center front fashion layer slightly on the bias, so I’m afraid it will
stretch. 
Do you think it’s too busy? I'm not sure… but it sure is
pretty.
I added 4 cm to the end of the E pieces so I can fold them
over to the other side, 2cm for the seam allowances
on the sides, like the foundation layers, and 1 cm on top and bottom (and sides
of tabs) so that they won’t fray by the time I get to binding.
Sew together!
Iron seam allowances flat on both layers! There are two
options: 1) iron open- makes less bulk. 2) iron to one side- lends strength to
the stays, since they are held together by the seam allowance, and not just the
thread in the seam.
I ironed the foundation layers open, because they are very
bulky. The fashion layer I had a bit of a problem with, because of the extra 1
cm seam allowances, so some of them I ironed open, and some to one side.
After I slept on it, I realized that wouldn’t work- I
couldn’t have both layers ironed open. If one seam ripped, the whole thing
would come apart. So I ironed the fashion layer to one side. Some of the seam
allowances started warping at the ends from the ironing, so I suspect it’s not
100% linen. Oh well. The foundation
layers I left open, because they really are bulky.
Baste together! Or pin. Or pin and then baste.
Finicky! Especially because the center front is on the bias,
so I had some maneuvering to do with the B pieces to compensate. I knew that
would come back to haunt me. Also, it’s a good thing I added an extra cm on top
and bottom of the fashion layer, because they didn’t meet up exactly, so that
leeway was very helpful. I also had to unpick and re-pin one of the D/E seams. The whole thing took me forever.
I ironed the whole thing, and the edges of the E seam
allowance 1 cm over, and folded the rest of it over, ironed and pinned.
It says here to make the boning channels 2mm wider than the
boning.
my boning is 9mm wide, so 11mm it is!
I used grey embroidery thread to sew the channels in a beautiful backstich.
 |
| Third channel has narrow indentation |
So I adjusted it.
I unpicked my beautiful hand sewn channels
that were holding down the seam allowance, and the seams between E and D, and
re-(hand)-sewed the foundation layers so that I could get the bone through.
 |
| Here you can see the distance from the pen line to the new seam |
And the new seam:
Okay, the first thing I learned from sewing the channels in
the first pattern piece is, not to sew down the seam allowances with the
channels, because when I needed to adjust the channel, the seam allowances that
I had sewn down got in the way. Also, all the pictures show them whip stitched
down only afterward.
The second thing I learned is- never use thread the color of
your pencil. It makes my eyes hurt. Oh well.
This is a pic of the first pattern piece with all the channels after adjustment. From
now on I’ll sew minus the seam allowances. 
I might come back and unpick some of it later.
Now the next piece. I’ll do the other E piece next so that I
remember how to adjust that channel.
I finished the first channel and when I
got to the end, saw that it was pulling and puckering, so I unpicked and re-sewed. I have to say, it is so much
harder to unpick backstitch than it is to unpick machine stitches.
Middle now?
After hand sewing boning channels on and off for many
months, I still haven’t finished. I usually hand sew while doing other things,
so it takes me a while. I also started some other projects. I have decided that
for my next pair of stays, it might be prudent to roll pin the separate pieces,
sew the channels, and then sew them together. Also, make them half boned. I’ve
been reading that fully boned stays are only really needed for very full figures, and
there are many more channels to hand sew.
I finished the boning channels. I repeat!! I finished the boning channels!!!
On to boning!
It says here to leave 10mm space between the end of the
boning and the end of the stays, on top and bottom (to leave space for binding)
The red lines are where I sewed shut before boning. Pieces
A, B and E are closed on the bottom, and C and D on the top. That might change
depending on your pattern. The important part is to leave space for the bone to
go in. no one likes ripping out seams.
Also, mark where the waist line is and where the tabs will
be.
Then I started cutting the bones.
I placed the zip tie on the channel where it will be, marked one side with permanent marker in the shape of the pencil line underneath it (1cm away from the edge) and cut it on the line. Then I placed it back down on the channel, and marked and cut the other side. I didn’t do them both at once to avoid mistakes.
Then slide it into the channel
Doing all the bones only took me a few days. I used big
scissors, but not (of course) fabric scissors. It made my index finger hurt for days!
I sewed the channels shut on the open side. This is a very
important seam, because the seams around the bones are the only thing keeping
them from poking out, so it is prudent to reinforce them. I sewed it by hand,
but you might be able to do it by machine with a zipper foot to get close to
the edge.
You can see the ridges made from the lines of bones.
And on to eyelets!
The zen of spiral lacing explains what spiral lacing (the way they laced in the 18th century)
is, and how to lace.
This tutorial explains how to calculate the spacing and number of eyelets.
One eyelet on each side at the top of the stays, one eyelet
on each side at the waist line (not the bottom of the stays), and the rest
evenly dispersed between them, except for the one on the top on one side and on
the bottom on the other that make all the holes offset, creating the spiral.
Math. Decide how many eyelets you want. Measure the distance
between the eyelet at the top and the eyelet at the waist, and divide it by the
number of spaces you have between eyelets, while keeping in mind that one of
them needs to be half the size of the other ones. (Meaning: [number of eyelets on
stays] -2(top and waist) = [number of eyelets between top and waist] +0.5(because
there is always one more space than holes, and because that one has to be half
the size of the others. )
So. I have 14 eyelets on my stays. 12 between the top and
waist (excluding the actual top and bottom ones). That means I have 12.5 spaces.
The distance between my top and waist eyelets is 37.5cm.
37.5/12.5=3
So my spaces need to be 3cm wide. Except for the one which
is half that measurement: 1.5cm.
I had to maneuver the placement of the top eyelet to get a
round number. It is not necessary to do so, you can work with an odd number of
millimeters if it works for you.
Mark the placement of the eyelets.
That tutorial also explains how to construct the eyelets.
Poke an awl through all fabrics in the place you calculated
and marked, and whip stitch around the hole. If it threatens to close while
you’re whipping, poke the awl through again until it behaves. Simple really.
The hard part is the calculation.
Now my stays are ready to be laced and tried on.
Tie a bowline knot around the first eyelet, and then lace through the rest of
them. Don’t forget to spiral lace! in one side, out the other, all the way down
the spiral.
I had my sister take pictures of me. I uploaded them to
relevant Facebook groups with people knowledgeable on the subject, and asked
for any fit issues they saw.Apparently, my center front ends to far down, I need to split more tabs, lower the whole back so that it doesn’t stand up above my shoulder blades, and lower the armscye so that it doesn’t chafe.
I need to rip out the stitches holding the bones in, take the
relevant bones out, cut them to the new length, put them back in, and cut the
fabric to 1cm down from the end of the bones (seam allowance).
After many months of fitting, during which I would fix
something, upload pictures, and ask people if they fit correctly, I have a pair
of stays that mostly fits well. The only real problem that I can tell that I
can’t fix in this pair of stays, and I’ll have to fix in the next pair I do, is
the curve to the side of the center front piece that fits it to the abdomen. I
didn’t know I needed that when I was drafting the pattern.
Please excuse the lack of shift, I haven’t been able to make
one yet. I hadn’t finished these stays yet, and still had a few fitting issues to
take care of.
Links about fitting:
almost finished stays
Eventually I let them out a bit- where I could, where I hadn't cut off the extra seam allowance.
I still have to bind the stays, and decide if I’m putting in
shoulder straps, and lining.
In this video, American Duchess talk a lot about stays and shoulder
straps, and I wish I had seen it before I started these stays, but I’ll have this
information for my next pair of stays!
About drafting shoulder straps:
I now really should whip-stitch the seam allowances down, but
because I’m royally sick of these stays, and want to finish them already, I’m
going to bind them now, and whip-stitch the seam allowances down later.
I followed Cathy Hay’s explanation for binding corsets/stays
with bias tape:
It has come to my attention that bias tape for binding stays
is not Historically Accurate to the 18th century, but I already
bought all that bias tape- quite a lot of it, so I’m going to use it. It seems
like most of my materials for these stays turned out to be not HA, but whatever…
I’ll know for next time.
I sewed one side of the tape down to the right side of the
stays with backstitch. (Except for the convex curves, for which I used
slipstitch).
But first the corner...
And then the rest...
Aaaaand… I pricked myself and bled on the binding! Well, they say no garment is finished until you’ve bled on it…
And now the bottom!
Like the top, I started backstitching the bias binding onto
the bottom half of the stays, and I must say! Now I understand why so many
people complain about binding, and say it’s the worst part of making stays!
Those hairpin turns between the tabs! They are so frustrating! The binding
stands up and gets in the way, and the turn is so tight! Still not my least
favorite part of stay making though- I’d say my least favorite part is fitting, but that’s
probably because I had no idea what I was doing whatsoever.
It's soooo pretty!
And now the bottom!
Like the top, I started backstitching the bias binding onto
the bottom half of the stays, and I must say! Now I understand why so many
people complain about binding, and say it’s the worst part of making stays!
Those hairpin turns between the tabs! They are so frustrating! The binding
stands up and gets in the way, and the turn is so tight! Still not my least
favorite part of stay making though- I’d say my least favorite part is fitting, but that’s
probably because I had no idea what I was doing whatsoever.
And now I will slipstitch them down to the other side (with
the periodic use of backstitch and running stitch in frustrating places)
It's soooo pretty!
And I believe they are mostly done!
I am not going to line these stays. mostly because I'm sick of them already, but also because they're not really that good, and I don't want to waste my nice linen on them. I will sew down the seam allowances though.
I think I’m calling this project a usable failure. I can use them as stays, but because I now know so much more about stays than when I started and was making the pattern, I am unhappy with them as they are.
Oh well, you know what they say-
If at first you don’t succeed, fail, fail, again!
It is all a learning process.
Here’s to next time!
Next time I think I’ll make half-boned stays (I don’t really
need fully boned ones for my figure, and I think the space with fabric between
bones might hug my body more, and prevent the stays from sliding down- which is
what made me keep wanting to make them smaller) and I’ll need a curve at the
side front.
Some links about lacing and wearing stays:
And of course the finished stays!
See you next time!
Here's a list of useful links for making stays (mostly other people's blogs):
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