A set of 1780s stays

I was never really happy with my 1776 stays. They weren't the right decade, and I just didn't like the overall shape of them. Not to mention they've now become my very first UFO. Quite quickly I wanted to make a later pair, the ones over the page in Waugh's book, the 1780 pair.

Stays are quite strange to me because they're one of very few garments you can wear whilst it's not technically finished. What I mean by this is you can wear them without the seams finished, without a lining, and if you're brave enough, even without binding. I think that was why these stays aren't finished. I also don't like the shape, or lack of, they give me. I think the linen canvas just makes them too stiff and the tabs don't end up shooting out like they're supposed to. I gave up halfway through the binding, but they go under my floral chemise a la reine, and my Pierrot jacket. I'm currently planning to re-make these.

I think they have to be one of the fugliest pair of stays I've seen. What I am proud of is the binding. This is my second attempt, the first being short regency stays with tabs, but my first working with chamois leather. My favourite part is the underarms, they're just so pretty, shame they'll literally never be seen.

The Making of...

Since I've become a little faster at sewing now, it ended up being scaled up and drafted at the same time as the garments for the Victorian Ball. May as well do them all together. I had also booked 2 Georgian events a month after the ball, and knew it was better to get a head start on the garments before then. It was quite fortunate I stumbled upon American Duchess's live video just before I scaled up these stays. I didn't catch it live, but it appeared on my trusted Pinterest feed and I watched all 55 minutes of it, because it was all about stays. Can't tell you how much help it was when drafting the pattern for these stays.

I will confess here that I nearly caved and bought stays. This may not be so surprising as every costumer outsources certain garments, and I've done it once back when I first started in this hobby and gave up on the corset for my 1860s ball gown, but haven't done it since. A part of me feels like it's giving in, and not to mention money is always on my mind, and I really can't seem to justify in my head buying a pair or having them made for me, when I have the growing skills to do it myself. I was so close to buying the front opening 1780s stays from Redthreaded, but wasn't ready to give in with my stay journey at the first junction, so didn't.

Using my corset lacing mock-up panels for spiral lacing, not a good idea, but serves its purpose

So perfect if they weren't short-waisted.

Still proud about that curved front.

In between making my ball gown, I drafted these stays. I think I suffer from beginner's luck when it comes to sewing. I swear my 1860s ball gown is the best thing I've made to date, and it was also the first. My first pair of stays that I scaled up were quite good, a few mock ups later and I had stays that fit well. With these 1780s stays I was on 3 mock-ups and still didn't have a finalised pattern.

I also made a mistake in that I miscalculated my bust to waist measurement, so my first mock-up was empire waisted....well, not quite as bad, but certainly not at my natural waist. I was, however, proud of the curved/bow front that a slightly curved side front seam created. The second mock-up was better, still not quite sure about where tabs are meant to "break". I thought at the waist, but wasn't sure if the tabs were actually breaking at the waist. All very confusing, and difficult when you don't actually have a mirror.....I know!

the tabs definitely break at the waist now, wrinkles may indicate it's too long waisted now

still curved front = win!

At the second mock-up everything fit ok, but I wasn't liking the lacing gap. In all honesty I hadn't actually factored in a lacing gap when scaling up, so they are quite snug. The gap was roughly 3.5 inches wide, and although I could get away with it seeing as these were front lacing only, I was concerned the lacing would be seen underneath gowns. The smaller the lacing gap at the front, the better.

Mock-up 3 included enlarging the pieces by about 1/2". It laced all the way closed (which wasn't supposed to happen either), and fitted relatively well, but they just didn't look right. The back panel looked too wide for stays, and the scooped front was also really weird. It was here that i learned an important lesson. Don't throw out paper patterns for draft versions. in order to enlarge mock-up 2, I had to cut them in half and separate them by 1/2", then after the new pattern was on paper i scrunched them up and threw them in the bin. Thankfully, I still had the calico mock-up of V.2, and got the seam ripper out. My solution, instead of enlarging the whole thing, was to simply add 1" onto the CF seam. the front panel is very low and scooped, but because i changed it to CF opening, the actual CF is a straight edge. I don't know why I didn't do that in the first place, but I've never actually learned how to enlarge things properly, i always thought you had to add onto all pieces, but maybe that's only with certain garments? Still unsure, but learning slowly.

I decided at this point that 3 mock-ups for these stays was enough, so using version 2.1, I cut out the outer layer. My 1760s stays were made from purple linen, and I stitched the boning channels in red, and the eyelets in royal blue. Neither goes, in case you're wondering. Since I still had the purple linen left, and with nothing else planned for it, I decided to use it.

On my travels around my usual suppliers, I found the elusive linen canvas that people use for stays. I actually found 2. Linen canvas, when i looked the first time around, is expensive ££, because it's mostly used by artists now, and I assumed cotton canvas was the same thing. It is, and it isn't.

Looking through the fabric that my usual suppliers sells, I saw a fabric they called artists canvas (which I assumed to be linen canvas), but then a page later also found actual linen canvas. what is the difference? The "Artists's canvas" was 100% cotton, whereas the linen canvas was obviously 100% linen. Another difference was the price. The linen canvas is roughly the same price p/m as plain cotton coutil used for making corsetry, whereas the artists's canvas was only about £5 p/m. Curious, I bought a metre of both.

Instantly upon them arriving, I understood why our ancestors used linen canvas. This stuff is stiff, and very lightweight. However, the artist's canvas was also quite stuff, although a little less so, and was definitely a lot stiffer than the cotton canvas I'd used the first time around. I'm still not sure what the difference is between artist's cotton canvas, and other cotton canvas....

The linen canvas is a lot like coutil, but even coutil isn't as stiff, and is a lot smoother to the touch than this stuff was. Unfortunately, 1m wasn't enough for 2 layers of interlining, and so my stays have 1 layer of linen canvas, 1 of artist's canvas, and 1 of outer  medium weight linen.

Before the stays were sewn together, I hand sewed the eyelets. This was quite weird for me to do because at the time I was having an existential crisis as to what kind of sewer I was. A costumer, a HA sewer? I'm neither, but I had used the HA linen canvas, so may as well try and be as accurate as I wanted, and sewing eyelets is quite therapeutic.

Then I sewed everything together and quickly tried them on. I was quite concerned that the tabs didn't "break" at the waist, as I was having some wrinkling problems at the back, but I didn't take pictures, or even a look at this stage as this was checking fit rather than anything else. They fit well at this stage, with a modest lacing gap. The problems were to come later.

I stitched down the seam allowances, which was.so.hard! The next time I do stays I'm doing to put the linen canvas layer in the middle, with these I put it on the bottom, and getting a needle through it is an absolute bitch. I actually had to use a thimble!! Needless to say, they're sewn down now, another HA thing.

Then I tried them on, and found a minor irritation. The front is a bit big. I don't know how else to explain it. The bowed front looked perfect to me when I compared it visually to others, but when it was on, there was definite gaping. I'm unsure if this is because the shoulder straps were only pinned loosely into place, therefore not lifting the stays at the shoulder, or whether because stays are meant to encourage your shoulders back, I was just slouching, therefore creating some gaping. The front curvature was also extreme, so extreme I worried something had gone wrong. These stays made by other people online don't have as exaggerated curvature at the front. They also weren't fully boned when I tried them on at this stage because I ran out of synthetic whalebone.

There was also some wrinkling at the front where it curves, so it needed a few more bones in to prevent that.

Then I let the project fester. I made a false rump instead, or I started drafting the pattern for the Pierrot, not sure, but it was exactly what I needed. After a few days I went back to them.

1.) Tabs break at the waist, and these did not, so I cut the seam so they "broke" at the waist. Sorted.

2.) The front wasn't low enough. After trolling through pictures of other stays, I realised mine were too high necked. I removed the top bone, and sliced the curved front.

After attaching the straps properly, and finishing the boning, everything was sorted. I had a relatively well fitting pair of 1780s stays.

A slight niggle is the shoulder straps. I think they're too wide, even for this era. Something to work on for the next pair, which if I have time there will probably be.

And then they were left again, because my natural form era ensemble had been sitting for too long, and i knew if I didn't set aside a weekend to make progress, it would forever remain unfinished. The only thing left to do on these stays was the dreaded binding.

2018 year in review

Goodness, it's that time of year again. I don't usually do a separate post on reviewing what I've made but I was looking at the one I wrote last year and decided it may be too long.

One of my goals this year was to blog more, which I don't feel I really did. This year the problem was with actually finishing projects. I realise I have a problem in that I very rarely see projects through to completion. They sit with seams unfinished, fastenings not done, and edges fraying. This will be more like a list of incomplete projects than a review of what I've done in 2018.

1.) Natural form era gown.
This comes with a story, like they all do. I made this for Prior Attire's ball in May, but by April it looked as though my friend couldn't go due to work commitments, and I was never really that keen on attending another one (I have a blog on my experiences of events like this that I'll leave you to find). I had a corset, petticoat, underskirt, over-skirt, and evening bodice all nearly done. I had worked on them for ages, but when I realised we weren't going I lost interest very quickly and they've been moved around the sewing room for the last 8 months. The corset and petticoat are complete (minus flossing and hook and eye, respectively). The underskirt needs another row of pleating at the hem and a fastening. The over-skirt I kind of messed up a wee bit so I'm currently toying with unpicking parts of it and re-doing them. The bodice edges need finishing, and I also had a bit of a nightmare adding hook and eye tape which will need to be fixed.
This is another project that's added to the never-ending list of "needs fixed/finished". I do have a collection of in progress photos that will have to do for now.

2.) 1780s Pierrot ensemble
This was the main project of this year as it was a new era for me. I made a challenge for myself in that I didn't want to use commercial patterns, only ones I had scaled up. I even styled a half-wig for this period, with questionable success. I tried to make a chemise, which was far too big, 2 pairs of stays, a linen petticoat, silk taffeta petticoat, and the Pierrot jacket.
I really liked working in this period, and found a new love for 18th century stays. That love was so strong that I've made at least 3 pairs (all unfinished) in 2018 alone, with some shaky plans to continue into 2019.

3.) 1780s Chemise a la reine ensemble
The 1780s and 90s are my favourite decades of the 18th century, and as a result I spent most of the sewing year making various pieces from the ground up. This consisted of the same semi-disastrous 1780s stays, an experimental petticoat lined with cotton organdie, and a really nice printed cotton for the chemise itself.

4.) 1790s round gown
I don't know what made me do this one...I'd probably found a fabric that I liked. Again I had to make everything from the foundations up with this one, and this was also the first experience I had with using the AD guide to 18th century dress making. This also confirmed to me I don't suit an empire waist, even if it isn't as high as traditional "Austen" style gowns.

5.) 1660s court gown
This one had been on my list for years, and since the final season of Versailles came out this year I decided to start on it. Unfortunately, the sewing drought of 2018 hit in the middle and I found myself going less and less into the sewing room. The gown is nearly finished, finishing edges and adding trim to the bodice kind of stuff, but by this point it does feel never ending. Here are some in progress photos until I finally finish it. It has been a bit of a disaster on the whole, kind of like putting fires out at every junction, but it looks alright....from a distance.

6.) Vintage inspired skirts
I have been wearing the same skirts for about 5-6 years now. Some have small holes, others are faded to a completely different colour, but all of them suddenly became too short for my liking. I also began my journey into vintage clothing this year. Instead of paying through the nose for vintage repro clothes I thought why don't I just make them myself. Using one of my old skater skirts I made a pattern, tweaked it here and there, and then made 2 skirts from 4m of tartan fabric. One was the "mock-up" for the pleating pattern, and the other had a thicker waistband.

7.) Misc
I put this category in here because I made a few accessories this year, and began another hobby. I made an 18th century pocket, hand embroidered; I styled a half-wig into a 1780s hedgehog; and I began a new hobby of crocheting this year.

Turns out 2018 was the year for building my 18th century wardrobe, which I'm completely ok with. The 18th century and I still have some unfinished business in the shape of stays. I think it feels to me like I didn't make much because there's only 3 completed outfits, and 2 unfinished ones, but I had to make everything from the foundations up with all of them, so I suppose I've actually been quite productive.

I also ventured outside a lot with my costumes, which was something I wanted to accomplish last year. I didn't quite make it outside the safety of my own garden, but let's take baby steps.

2018 was a bit of a quiet year, not that I'm complaining, I just hope it continues that way.

An 18th century Robe en Chemise

Very few garments have ever been so scandalous as the chemise a la reine, Gaulle, or robe en chemise, whichever you prefer. I've gone into the history of the robe en chemise in another post, so I won't repeat myself here.

We're all here because I wanted one. Not the white, high-maintenance ones that are extant, or in the paintings, although that was tempting. Somehow, mine is made from printed floral cotton.

As I've said in other posts, in 2018 I am anti-HA. There is no evidence that chemise a la reine's were made of printed fabric, white and other plain colours, yes, but not prints. Obviously, absence of evidence doesn't necessarily mean they didn't exist. After all, there are only about 2 or 3 chemises still extant. Regardless, when I saw the fabric I just thought it would make a nice robe en chemise.

It's cotton lawn, I didn't feel like voile which is common for chemises, but this fabric was a bitch to work with. For a lawn it was so so thin! Not sheer, just really soft, floppy and frayed so easily, worse than the lawns I usually work with. It had a very loose weave, if you know what I mean. I can forgive its many sins though because it's so pretty.

It's worn with a chemise, my 1780s stays, a small bustle pad originally intended for an 1870s ensemble, my hybrid petticoat, American Duchess Pemberley shoes (discontinued), and a cute little regency beret ( a little later than this gown but it was too hot for my 1780s half wig).

Let's get undressed!!

Off with the sash

From the front it could quite easily be a 1790s round gown, shame I did the fitted back...

You can barely see, but there are two cotton tapes for ties at the neckline, and underbust

The lining is laced up for a snug fit....perhaps too snug

My experimental 18th century petticoat, lined with cotton organdie

The bustle pad made for the 1870s, but fits with 1780s.

The making of.......

There was a case of a missing pattern during this project. I lengthened the pattern I used for my regency ensemble and cut out the lining. I had about 3 or 4 projects on the go by this time (June was a hell of a month) so I'd be jumping from one thing to the other. I made quite a few alterations to the lining, despite mock-ups, and left it for a few days. When I came to cut out the lawn I couldn't find that pattern anywhere. My sewing room is in a bad state, I'm not going to lie, but I turned that place upside down looking for these pattern pieces and couldn't find them anywhere. So this means I'll find them in September, not so handy now.

I had to just use the lining, which was already constructed, to try and cut out the fabric. This was not fun and so unbelievably frustrating. It also prompted me to try a different construction method; mounting the fashion fabric to the lining. I assumed because of my patternless-ness the pieces wouldn't match up exactly, so I folded in the seam allowance and mounted them to the lining, which hid any mistakes.

The front lining is laced up with...that's right, metal grommets!! #antiHAcrew

Things got worse when it came to the front. Somehow my fashion fabric shoulder straps were smaller than the lining ones. I ended up having to do them again and make them wider.

The next problem was the casings for the drawstrings. The neckline was fine, although I realised that using bias binding was a bit too stiff, so changed to twill tape afterwards. I ensured that the casing for the waist was put on straight, and hand sewed it on with tiny stitches. During the fitting stage I found that it wasn't straight at all and was messing with the front panel. I'm still not quite sure what happened, but after that I just decided to put a casing at the under bust, and leave the waist. I might go back and put one on, but since I'll always be wearing a belt with it I just couldn't see the point in the drawstring.

There was a lot of hand sewing of the front panel, in fact there was a lot of hand sewing on this entire project!

That's just string so I got the placement of the casings right after the first disaster

Another source of problems came from the hem. You can see in the picture above that the front it shorter than the back. This is because I had measured the back to go over a false rump, which is now in the bin. The rump was more of an experiment. I didn't want to use my 1780s false rump because I think they look a bit too big for the robe en chemise, so I tested my skills and made one based on an extant. This also turned out to be too big, but I knew I needed something for my derriere.

I haven't published it on the blog yet, but I was working on an 1870s natural form gown at the beginning of the year, which remains a UFO for now, and I made a small bustle pillow. I ended up not needing it for the natural form because it looked too big for that, and it lay abandoned in a corner for months. When I was trying on the robe en chemise I remembered this little bustle, made out of an old pillow case and stuffed with the scraps from the sewing room bin. It was the perfect amount of volume, especially under my experimental 18th century petticoat.

Back to the hem. I had roughly 2.5" difference between the front panel and the back skirt panel. To be honest the front was too short for my liking, and the back was the perfect length, but how to fix it? I know I complained about this fabric being a bitch to work with, but I'm so glad I chose it. I'm finding, ever since working with patterned fabrics, that they're really quite forgiving. They're so busy that any mistakes kind of just disappear, as proven by my Pierrot.

I cut out a strip of the lawn (which I still had about 1m leftover) and sewed it to the bottom of the front panel. Sorted. I thought it would be awful and that the seam would be really obvious, but it's not that bad, in my opinion. Just don't look that closely.

God forbid this project went smoothly, this is what happens when you don't pattern or mock-up correctly. I'm glad I got this fabric on sale. I designed the front of this gown a bit strangely in that the arm scye at the front had quite a sharp angle where the strap met the front panel. I attempted to fix this with the strap, but it didn't work. I attached the sleeves whilst the dress was on an armless mannequin, and when I put it on, the sleeves were pulling from the front. I'd also had to put a few pleats in the sleeves to fit them in.

Look at those peaks!! Ugh! But let's look on the bright side, the rest of the sleeve fit perfectly over my arms, and I mean perfect. I patterned these from the American Duchess book, in the section on the round gown from the 1790s. I wish I'd done this with my Pierrot.

My solution was to unpick the top of the arm scye, at the shoulder, and kind of feed the sleeve further into the arm scye. I think the head of the sleeve is to steep, I had this problem with the Pierrot sleeves as well. I'm actually glad I hand sewed these in because the stitching was a lot easier to unravel than if it had been done on machine.

I cut them to the right length, they're a bit long for my liking in the above picture, and then I was done.

The belt is just a piece of brown velvet ribbon that I originally intended to go with my Pierrot. The sash I made for this was from a remnant I had of the blue silk taffeta I used to make my 1780s petticoat. I even bought a vintage buckle and everything, but when I put it on with the chemise it just didn't go, and if I thought that, the person who needs fashion plates to chose colours, then you can imagine how bad it must have been. The ribbon was thin, and because the floral pattern was brown, i think the brown of the velvet just went better.

I would have liked a longer tail, hence why I made the taffeta sash quite long, but I wasn't going to buy more velvet ribbon just for that. I think the bustle pad just gives the backside that extra volume that it needed without it being too big.