1770s Stays Part One

I realised today that this blog has been neglected for a while, so it's time to catch up and hopefully get a few posts written up this weekend!

I decided a while ago that I wanted to make some 18th century clothing for myself. As the 1770s is a very versatile period with lots of  new fashions and changing styles I felt it would be the best place to start. I've covered a little of the history behind 1770s stays as well as how I made my first pair here

The Pattern I used was the 1770s stays from Corsets and Crinolines

I made up a toile and found that it fitted me really well! It only needed a few tweaks and then I was ready to move on too the actual stays. I decided for this project that I wanted to use cane boning as I had found the sprung steel I used for the 'Project: Polonaise' stays to be much too heavy and bulky. The fabric I used for the stays are a layer of cotton canvas backed with a layer of plain cotton. (I may line them properly with linen later). The fashion fabric is silk dupion which is in no way historically accurate but I was trying to work on cutting down my fabric stash.

Sewing the boning channels

The panels with the reed boning inserted and ready to sew together.

I decided that for this project I would also make hand bound eyelets, hooray! I actually found this process a lot quicker and much easier than sewing round metal eyelets as well as looking (and being) much more authentic.

The first off the hand bound eyelets

Iv'e decided to try the twill tape method of making my shoulder straps  (I'm not sure if it has a proper name) so wont be adding them till later. Here's the first fitting for the stays (I'm glad I had one before binding the top as I need to leave a little more seam allowance.

First fitting for the stays

In part two off this entry I shall be finishing the stays including strengthening the seams with some cotton tape and tackling the dreaded binding!