Historically stays would have been made using two layers of linen . I decided that, as these layers of the garment would not actually be seen to use coutil and cotton as they were fabrics I was used to working with as well as them costing less which helped to reduce my budget.
I began by taking these two layers together and sewing the boning channels in place, then it came time to dye the silk.
I bought some lovely silk brocade from a place online I can't remember (my folder's in the attic and I can't find the email). I then dyed it using procion dyes to get a nice pink colour similar to thee original that would complement the rest of the costume.
The centre back silk panels were cut out and tacked to the cotton and coutil centre back panels. The centre back seam allowance was then folded over twice to create the eyelet stand and the centre boning channels sewn in place with pink thread.
The corset panels were then sewn together, wrong sides together, using a large stitch length. The shoulder straps were attached to the back panels with safety pins.
The eyelet placements were then marked onto the eyelet stand and holes cut using a punch. 4mm diameter eyelets were then attached to the stand. Historically metal eyelets didn't exist until the 19th Century and eyelets of the time would have been hand stitched, however as the costume was being made as if it was for a film and extra strength would be required I used small metal eyelets on the advice of my tutor which I would cover with buttonhole stitch. Metal boning was used for the same reasons.
Once the boning was inserted the stays were fitted onto my model and any alterations made. According to my notes took 1/2" off each side of the centre front panel and 1/4" off one of the sets of side panels whilst adding an inch to the shoulder strap.
Once the alterations were complete the silk was cut out and tacked onto the panels. I left a 1" seam allowance on the centre front so the silk could be stitched together to give the appearance of the centre front join that is present in a lot of historical examples whilst still retaining strength in the base panels.
The boning channels were sewn into all of the panels except for the horizontal bust channels and the bones that connected to the horizontal bust channels were then inserted into the stays before the horizontal channels were sewn in.
I then seamed all of the panels together with a double layer of stitching and all of the boning was inserted which took a full day of swearing and frustration because I'd stitched the channels just a tiny bit too small for them to go in easily.
The linen lining fabric (which was made from off-cuts from my shift) was cut out, stitched together and stitched into the stays once the shoulder straps had been added.
My folder work then tells me that:
"binding was then cut from the leftover silk brocade and stitched around the top edge of the stays right sides together using the machine. The binding was then turned and hand stitched to the inside of the stays."
Well that sounds easy...ha...
ha....
ha.......
What seems like several days later I had finally competed this step (binding tabs will never be fun) and was able to move on to the final stage of the garment! Covering the eyelets. So Pretty!
My tutor even convinced me to dye the lacing to match (it's a good way to not loose it when there's several dozen of them all backstage at the end of year show).
All that was left was to take out the tacking stitches and the stays were complete...
Next up are pockets and garters!
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