If you remember, I began this extensive project back in August of 2019, and alas, now it is May of 2020 (not published date). But after long last, the stays are finally complete.
If you read my previous post breaking down all the elements of the ensemble and introducing the concept of this project, you might remember the initial inspiration which sparked the design for the stays.
I came across this image on my Pinterest and instantly fell in love with the striking blue-striped silk and gorgeous embroidery. I knew my embroidery skills were lacking, as I hadn’t done anything this elaborate before and I was rusty!
This stunning ensemble was worn by Count Hans Axel von Fersen the Younger of Sweden. This count was extremely powerful and influential in some of the landmarking historical events of both France and America during the Revolutionary War. Interestingly, it was rumored that Axel was one of Queen Marie Antoinette’s lovers, and it was said he “retreated” to America’s revolution to avoid becoming the center the Parisian court scandal. Also, he was one of the noblemen who escaped from the palace of Versailles on October 6, 1789. I’m telling ya, this guy was legit! The history is so juicy and the clothes are breathtaking! It was so cool to incorporate some of his history into my stays.
Of course, research is always essential when making a garment over 200 years old. I drafted the pattern for my stays from scratch after extensively looking at extant stays like these:
The first image is from a seller from Ebay, but the image comes from an extant garment enthusiast of pre-WWI garments. The second image is located from the Met, and the final also from the Met but focusing on the stomacher and front lacing. And of course, I could never forget to mention the incredible work of Before the Automobile and another amazing source for inspiration.
While I don’t have accessibility to physically look at extant garments and get my hands on them and measure them, I did my best to eyeball the basic shapes the front and back laced stays made. An interesting note, the side panels which begins at the tip of the shoulder blade and wraps around the waist to the front above the hip bone is what I think makes the stays give the “18th century body” look. It’s an interesting shape, and from studying those images as best I could, I determined that the side panel was the most important element to make the stays look correct.
In addition to that, I made a short list of key elements I wanted to be sure to incorporate into the stays, to achieve the look I wanted for this ensemble.
Must have a front and back closure
EMBROIDERY
Elaborate/Embroidered Stomacher
Detachable shoulder straps (preferably embroidered)
Narrow boning channels
With this list and prior research in mind, I did my best to make this general pattern for the stays (after two successful mockups) . You can see my general pattern on my YouTube video where I provide a general step by step guide for making these stays.
In hindsight, although I drafted the stays to fit myself, for some reason it more perfectly fitted my old dress form. I knew this might be an issue, but I continued nevertheless. If I wore the stays without padding or bust support the stays can close perfectly with each side of the eyelets practically touching (both front and back). But to give a more flattering 18th century look and make me feel more feminine in the stays, a good ole’ pushup bra helps it fit just perfectly. 🙂
Beginning
Because I was scared of messing up on the stays itself, I decided to knock out the embroidery portion of the stays first. With the Count Axel’s embroidery as inspiration, coming up with the design for my stomacher and shoulder straps was rather simple.
I think I did a pretty dandy job, if I do say so myself.
Construction
After a few fittings, I cut out my blue tie-dye cotton and unbleached muslin lining with a 1 inch seam allowance and cut medium weight interfacing without seam allowance.
After the pieces were cut out, I based each front, interfacing and lining pieces together. This way it, it makes the creating boning channels and inserting them much easier. Once that was done, I began sewing the boning channels by machine at a width of 1/4 inch. Just perfectly sized for my long and narrow zip-ties I used for boning. I’ve heard that ties aren’t the best item to use in this process, but if American Duchess said it works then that’s good enough for me! You could alternatively use wooden reeds, or even regular synthetic baleen. But since I wanted them to be narrow and I wanted a heckin’ ton of bones, the zip-ties were the best alternative.
I also stitched the front two panels by hand, which was very labor intensive and took a while to do, and ended up looking quite nice up close. But literally no one would know or could tell from photos or from a distance. So was it really even worth it? I’m not quite sure.
On the Left panel you can see my hand-stitched front closure
The next step was to sew each designated piece together – by hand of course. Then, add eyelets to both the front and pack pieces. Because I’m planning to spiral lace these stays, I needed to offset the eyelets on one side but make sure the first and last eyelets were directly across from their opposite eyelets. But of course, I didn’t do this. I didn’t take my own advise, but instead arranged the eyelets in the victorian fashion. In my defense, I was in a total rush to get this project done because I wanted to take nice photos in my neighbor’s pasture and I was sure he would cut his field of wildflowers if I didn’t get it done quickly.
Next, I felled down the raw edges on the lining.
And finally, the binding came last, and I have to say this was the hardest part of the whole process of making these stays. The tabs turned out really bad, I don’t like how they lay on my body nor do I like the bulk the binding gives to their shape. Maybe one of these days I’ll go back and fix it, but if I’m honest, I would never revisit that nightmare again.
Once that was done and the stays were laced up, this project was finished! Believe it or not, these stays took much longer to complete than you might have though from just reading this post. Take a look at these stats:
The embroidery alone took nearly a month to complete (granted I was finishing my final semester of school)
There are 154 bones
Took 10 months create from start to finish
Now I know that I will definitely use a pattern next time I make stays, but I really think I did a great job for my first pair. Sure it’s got problems, but its also got features I love.
I hope this helps you visualize the process and can be helpful to you if you’re making stays. But if you would rather watch the process, please check out my videos on my YouTube channel! – 1760s Stays – Part One: Embroidery – 1760s Stays – Part Two: Construction
