New Transitional Stays

While doing research for my ensemble for the 1790s Tea, I was inspired by Festive Attyre's 1790s Transitional Stays, and decided to set about making my own.  First I needed a copy of Jill Salen's Corsets, which I ordered on Amazon.  Now that I have the book, I'm amazed that I've gone this long without it!  I can tell that it is going to be an invaluable resource, and I'm looking forward to delving into it even deeper.  

But I was on a deadline, so I got right into my planned project.  I wasn't confident in my ability to properly scale up the pattern, and I didn't really have time to mess around with trial and error.  So I took my copy of the book to Office Max and got them to enlarge it for me.  I added my seam allowances and cut out the pattern pieces.  Then I used one of Jill Salen's tips, which was to make a mockup out of felt.  I taped the bones (zip ties) in place with wide masking tape, to give me an idea of the support they would provide:  

I sewed some grommet tape to the center front pieces, along the line of the eyelets on the pattern.  Then I tried it on:

I was fully expecting to have to make significant alterations to make it fit me properly, but it was nearly perfect as-is!  The only thing I thought might be an issue was the fact that the front edges laced entirely closed.  I decided to take slightly larger seam allowances on each seam, to give myself a bit of space in the front.  Otherwise I kept the pattern unchanged.

I used some lightweight but firm cotton muslin from my stash that, honestly I don't know where I got it.  I think it was given to me, but I don't remember when or by whom.

I overlocked the raw edges and washed it in hot water to get any shrinkage out of the way.  It's a slightly different texture than the muslin I'm used to working with, but I thought it would work fine for this application.  It's thin, but still opaque, and has no stretch.

Because I simply copy/enlarged the pattern instead of drawing it to scale myself, I ran into one small problem when adding the seam allowances:

Two of the pieces overlapped, so I had to do some creative cutting and subsequent piecing to maintain the proper seam allowances:

I should note that I traced my seam allowances at 1/2" instead of my usual 5/8" - not on purpose.  I couldn't find my clear ruler, so I cut a section of the excess gridded paper at 5 spaces wide and used it to draw in my seam allowances, not realizing that it was marked in 10ths of an inch instead of 8ths.  I figured out my mistake in time (it just didn't look right - I have a pretty good eye for 5/8" by now) but I decided to keep it that way.  I marked all the pieces to indicate 1/2" seam allowance, so I don't forget in the future.

I used my favorite fabric marker to trace the stitching lines for the lower tabs:

And mark the eyelets:

Because the eyelets are supposed to be offset for spiral lacing, but only one side of the pattern is included, I marked only the top and bottom eyelets on the left side:

Then I flipped the pattern piece over and aligned the top and bottom eyelets with the ones I'd just marked, but upside down:

Then marked the middle ones.  It's not a huge difference, but since there aren't many eyelets I figured it could make a significant impact on they way it sits.

I cut out and assembled two layers of the same cotton muslin, and put them right sides together.  Because I wanted to give myself a slight gap at the front lacing, I stitched all the seams (except the shoulder straps) at 5/8" instead of the 1/2" seam allowance that was traced.  Adding up the extra 1/4" this would give me at each seam, I expected to end up with a 1" gap when finished.

I did all this sewing by machine, mainly to expedite things, but also because I'm much better at keeping an even seam allowance on the machine!  And I wanted to be really precise.

I stitched around the top and bottom edges, leaving the center front edges open as instructed in the book.

I did end up shortening the shoulder straps by 2", which was a suggestion from another costumer after I posted pictures of my mockup in a Facebook group for underbust transitional stays.

I turned the whole thing right side out and pressed it really well before prick-stitching along the outer edges by hand.  I also sewed all of the boning channels by hand, inserting them as I went from center back to center front.  I didn't really follow the instructions in the book, though I did read them!  And I think my end result is close enough to the original.  I used 100% cotton thread in a shade quite a bit darker than my fabric, but I didn't want to use white on the unbleached muslin.  It blended in really well on the tiny prickstitches, but became much more prominent on the eyelets:

But I'm happy with the look, overall.  Shockingly, I finished ALL of the hand-sewing on these before the event!  I had stopped stitching the edges about halfway through, in favor of getting all of the boning channels and eyelets done so it was wearable.  But I still had time after getting the rest of my ensemble done, so I was able to finish!  A real first for me.

I still need to iron away all of the fabric marker lines, but that's no big deal.

I haven't gotten pictures of me wearing them yet, so I'll do a separate post later.  I do have some pattern notes, for anyone who might be interested in making these.

1. The seams on the Side pieces are mislabeled.  I used the match points instead of going by what was printed on the gridded pattern.  Same with the shoulder straps.

2. The instructions given include all hand-sewing techniques, so if you want to be as historically accurate as possible you can follow them rigidly.  However, it's very easy to do the basic construction by machine, as I did, and still do the finishing work by hand to give the right "look."  Either way, this is a project that does not take very long!  At least, compared to other stays.

3. I did not leave my boning channels open at the top like the original, because I have no intention of removing them.  I used heavy-duty zip ties, which worked well and mimics whalebone.  I would not recommend using reed for these stays, as the bones are all spaced far apart from each other and therefore could easily break.  In my experience, reed boning is best for full-boned stays where there is quite literally strength in numbers.

Wearing notes:  These stays are incredibly comfortable!  And they would work great for maternity and/or nursing, which is great news if I end up having another kid!  (IF)

And with that, I'm crossing off "New Short Stays" from my To-Do list of the past three years!  :D

Modeling My Regency Stays

I finally got pictures of me wearing my Regency stays, which I finished just over a year ago.  Since I've already blogged about them in detail, this will just be a photo post.  Enjoy!

My Finished Maternity Stays

I finally finished binding my 18th Century Maternity Stays in time to wear them to the Colonial Williamsburg Garden Party on May 5!  However, I did not get any good photos of them at the time because I was getting dressed in a hurry, having just finished stitching trim on my gown.  :p

So I put them on yesterday for a quick photo shoot.  I am really proud of how well they turned out.  They are comfortable and supportive, and have lasted the entire way through my pregnancy!  Here I am wearing them at 39 weeks:

Yep, could be any day now!  

Just for comparison, here I am wearing them (in various stages of completion) at 26 weeks and 29 weeks, respectively:

 

The side lacing is really the key, here.  It makes them incredibly adjustable so that they're never squishing the baby, but still providing support for the bust and for all of my petticoats.  The front lacing makes them very easy to get in and out of by myself, which has been awesome.

Since the last time I blogged about them, I have worn them four additional times (two of which I still need to blog about), and each time they became a little bit closer to being completed.  First I whipped all of the seam allowances down on the inside.  Next I added welting to the seams, which I think gives them a nice finished look.  I used 1/4" wide petersham ribbon from my stash.  Finally I trimmed the excess material from the top and bottom edges, and bound them with 1/"2 linen tape.

I also finished the ends of all of the cording pieces by wrapping them tightly with waxed thread and coating them in clear nail polish, to make lacing easier.  I had done about half of them before - all of the ones that were necessary to get them laced initially - but it felt good to have that final step done.

I did take a few quick shots on my phone after the Garden Party before I took they stays off, so here you can see me at 36 weeks:

Mirror selfies are such a crapshoot.

I also took a couple shots of the stays after I took them off, to show how much they had formed to my body by now:

Here are more photos from yesterday's shoot:

Baby was kicking.  :p

I haven't adjusted the back lacing at all since the first time I wore them.  The side lacing does all of the work:  

And the best part is that I should be able to wear them postpartum, as well!  With the sides laced closed they'll fit just like regular stays (in theory), and I'll still be able to adjust both front and back for my fluctuating size.  :)  

Maternity Stays - Nearly Finished

I'm sure everyone is interested in how my maternity stays came out - particularly if you've been following me on Instagram.  I am happy to say that I wore them this weekend and they worked beautifully!  They are not 100% finished, as they do not yet have binding and I'm missing a few bones here and there, but they were wearable for one day.

I did quite a bit of research on these stays, which you can see on my Pinterest board of 18th Century Maternity wear.  I also found the photos that Wm. Booth, Draper recently shared on Facebook to be helpful for the construction process.

I followed this excellent tutorial by The Mantua Maker at Midnight, although I changed the order of the steps slightly.  I cut out my coutil first:

I had originally adjusted the side seams of my pattern to take in room at the bust, so for my maternity stays I added that room back in.  I also gave myself more seam allowance at this seam, since it would have eyelets going up 3/4 of the way:

I added the same 1" of extra seam allowance to the center front edges, to accommodate the lacing there, as well:

I had to cut my linen fashion fabric out separately, as I was working with very small scraps leftover from another project.  I used one layer of the coutil I had already cut as my new pattern pieces:

Here I have the three layers (two layers coutil and one layer linen) basted together along the seam lines:

Now I started with the boning channels at the edges that would have lacing.  Following to the tutorial, I trimmed away one layer of coutil to reduce bulk, and pressed the fold at the basting line:

I trimmed away the excess seam allowance below the dots marking the start of the tabs that would flare out over my hips, and cut in to the basting line at the dot:

I used the original commercial pattern (Simplicity 3635) pieces as a guide for the first boning channel on the side front and side back pieces:

I then realized that the channels would extend down beyond the turned-over seam allowances into the tabs, which meant that the bones would need to go between the front two layers of coutil, and not between the second and third layers as they would at the center front and center back edges.  Therefore I trimmed away another layer of coutil to further reduce bulk at the side edges.

I did the same with the front and back pieces, but only trimmed away one layer of coutil as the tutorial instructed.  I then went out-of-order and stitched all of the boning channels (on the machine, to save time) before working the eyelets.  I adjusted the boning pattern to account for the eyelets at the side seams, and marked the eyelets at all lacing edges for a spiral-lacing pattern:

Here are all my pieces with the boning channels sewn and the eyelets marked:

It was at this point that I stopped to count up all of the eyelets that I was going to need to sew.  I do not have an eyelet attachment for my sewing machine, so these would need to be worked by hand.  All sixty-six of them.  This was on Thursday, and the event to which I intended to wear the stays was on Saturday.  I documented my progress on Instagram, under the hashtag #neverendingeyelets.

But at last they were done!  And of course I was leaving for Maryland the next day.  :p  Fortunately I wasn't leaving until the evening, so I was able to complete the next step - stitching together the pieces - again by hand.

I carpooled with two other ladies from Williamsburg on up to Maryland, so I was able to get a bit of work done in the car.  Namely, I laced up the center back with the lacing cord that I had stolen from my Regency Stays.  This took some work, because I had made my eyelets incredibly tiny, and they needed to be opened up more with my awl before I could thread the lacing through.  But I finished up just as it was getting too dark to see.  Then at the hotel, I set out to finish the stays to a wearable point.  Here is where I started:

I needed to add all the boning, and finish lacing up the rest of the edges.  I have no photos of this work, but I used zip ties from the hardware store for the boning.  I cut them to size with my Super Shears, rounding down the sharp edges with a heavy-duty nail file.  I boned every other channel, for the most part.  The center back pieces are probably the most heavily-boned, but I found that I had made a mistake by fully constructing the stays before some of the bones were inserted, and the seams closed off the edges of a few I needed to get into.  So I left those out.

I cut more cording and quickly finished the ends by wrapping them tightly with thread and coating that with clear nail polish.  Normally I would use Fray Check, but I couldn't find mine when I was packing.  Nail polish works just as well.  :)

Once the ends dried I was able to fully lace up my stays and try them on for the first time!  Very exciting.  It was also nearly 1:00 AM.  :p  They had better fit, because I was out of time!  The good news is, they did!  And I could get into and out of them by myself, thanks to the front-lacing feature.  Now I never want to wear back-lacing stays again!

I have no photos of me wearing them (yet) but here they are after a full day of being worn:

They have slightly formed to my shape, at least at the front and side fronts:

They will look much better after they have binding and welting on the seams.  I did stitch a quick basting line around the bottoms of the tabs to keep the bones from slipping out of those channels, and dabbed a bit of clear nail polish at the tops of the slits in between tabs, to keep the fabric from fraying too badly before I get the binding attached.

So you can see how they look in action, I took a couple of quick shots of Elsa wearing them over a makeshift pregnancy bump:

This is approximately how they fit on me.

I wrapped the long end of the front lacing around my waist, tying the end where it overlaps.  This knot can slip along the cord if I need to adjust the front lacing at all.  The two ends of the side lacing edges got tied together in front.

I found the stays very comfortable for all-day wear!  They provide good support at the bust, and do not compress the belly at all.  There is still a lot of room to grow in them, too.  I can let out the front and sides while keeping the back lacing right where it is, which is helpful for dressing myself.  I am calling this venture a definite success!  And I look forward to wearing them two or three more times before the baby is born, so stay tuned for more adventures in 18th Century maternity clothing!