V&A Stays 1780s

 
After being really annoyed with the Reconstructing History pattern, repairing my old set of stays and a lot of grumbling I still felt the need to make a new pair of stays. I had fallen in love with this lovely pair in the V&A Museum a long time ago but never really managed to get into making them. http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O115752/stays-unknown/

 THEN something almost surreal happened - the lovely Before the Automobile had not only made them but was kind enough to share her pattern with the world. :) I've been admiring her work for quite a while now, such perfection in action there!! But this has been just marvellous. So I DID pull myself together and got to work, trying something new. I have used rattan cane to bone the stays, they are made of Coutil as interlining, cotton gabardine as fabric and white linen lining. Around the armholes I used kidskin leather. Together with working and baby and moving house this took so much longer than I expected but finally I've managed to get somewhere with these! :) Though not flawless (what of my work is...? ehem...) I am quite content with the outcome. And next weekend I will try them out. I will be taking my old stays, though. Just in case... ;)

edit: after wearing them for more than 16 hours non-stop I can only say: SUUUUPER material, those canes are great! shaping good and really comfortable to wear! I couldn't see and damage of the bones, the seams and the design of the boning pattern is brilliant! They really did know what they were doing back then! :)

Stays - the Reconstructing History 833 pattern review

So, 

I have decided to make a new set of stays. Despite the fact that I could just make another pair of the JPR Stays adjusted to my "after-baby-shape" (I seem to have shrunk...), I have started on the Reconstructing History pattern #833... they seemed rather interesting. An open/stomacher version, a regular front, wide front and a late 1790s high waist one. The pattern pieces do NOT correspond with ANY of the stays pictured on the envelope of the pattern though and you have to do lots of improvising. I don't think I needed to buy a pattern for that... if I want to draft a pattern myself I don't buy a pattern (applied logic...). Well, anyway, I copied my size and the different versions and startet on the mock-up.

At first this suggestion to make the stays cut in one piece out of cardboard  (as the mock-up) seemed quite alright, but I have to says I am not completely happy. I also have to make quite a lot of changes. The pattern seems to assume that the side and front of your body is rather the same measurement (sort of round or square shaped, or trianguar or so, weird anyway), but I find I am rather elliptic. Thinking about it, I think most people are... The front is really really slim (about 30% smaller than me and I am more on the petite side...) so I had to widen the front piece considerably (and I just wanted a regular width for a mid 18th century version). The side pieces are relatively wide and then the back is superwide which means I have to remove about 30% width of the back and side sections at least. Also I find the instructions quite sketchy. I feel a bit like the general idea of what sort of pieces stays at different times were made of was thrown at me but to actually make something of it is left to me entirely. 

Also I find the tabs disturbingly long (about 10cms, and totally different (in proportion) to the pictures). Anyway, I find it a bit hard to find the motivation to go on with this pattern. I am thinking about using this pattern for the stomacher version only (there's probably a reason why that is the only picture on their homepage). It seems a waste to have bought a pattern and not do anything with it... maybe it's me, but I can't really recommend this pattern, I would even go so far to say keep your hands away.. I will do the fitting for the stomacher version and keep you updated, but if you are planning to do a set of stays, go for the JPR or Period Impressions ones, they all need careful fitting but those are minor to what I am facing at the moment. I am also going to try the NP13 Diderot stays pattern, I will let you know if there is any progress. For now, I say toodle-pip and I am grumbling along. ;)

Period impressions Kitsch stays

JPR Stays

Period Impressions rococo stays

Rokoko Kitsch Korsett

Ich konnte es nicht lassen. Ich hatte noch ein Stück Toile de Jouy rumliegen, aus dem ich ursprünglich ein Täschchen herstellen wollte, wobei mich der Elan verlassen hat. Anstatt dessen hab ich nach PI 511 eine Rokoko Kitsch Schnürbrust draus gemacht. Garantiert unauthentisch aber Spaß hat's gemacht. :) Und untendrunter sieht's ja auch keiner. Und ja, ich werde sogar noch Metallösen reinmachen. *smile* Und ich bin grade am planen von etwas weniger kitschigen Jumps. Wäsche-Fieber!!

I simply couldn't resist this Toile de Jouy - initially I planned to make bag from it but somehow got the hang of making a pair of Rococo kitschy stays from it and here they are. As unauthentic as it can get but well, who knows, it's underneath anyway- and it was great fun!!! I am even going to insert metal grommets some time soon. Also I am in the progress of working on a pair of less kitschy jumps, it's undie fever these days over here!!! :)



EDIT: Diese Schnürbrust wurde weiterverarbeitet zum "Corset" für meine 1793er Zone Gown. http://hertzwerk-freiburg.blogspot.de/2014/03/the-night-before-revolution-masked-ball.html
http://hertzwerk-freiburg.blogspot.de/2013/12/178090s-blue-zone-gown.html

JPR Rococo stays

Nach einiger Mühe mit dem Anpassen sind endlich meine JPR Stays fertiggeworden. Und nach 3.5 Probeteilen bin ich endlich zufrieden mit dem Endprodukt. Ich habe den Schnitt insoweit abgeändet, dass ich eine Frontschnürung eingefügt habe (da der Schnitt aber eine frontale mittige Naht vorsieht, ist das kein grosser Aufwand). Ich hoffe, sie sind auch bequem!!! :) Ansonsten bin ich mit dem Schnitt sehr zufrieden und werd ihn bestimmt nochmal benutzen (nachdem ich ja jetzt endlich "meine" Maße raus hab...). Ich habe 1 Lage weissen Coutil mit feinem Herringbone Streifen benutzt, 1 Lage beiger Köper und 1 Lage Leinen als Futter.Und Unmengen Stahlband, sie sind vollversteift. :) Diesen Schnitt werde ich bestimmt nochmal verwenden. Jaaa, das TShirt knürschtelt (gehört ja auch eigentlich ne Chemise drunter!) und die Schnürung wird auch noch durch ne weisse ersetzt und ordentlich gemacht, aber das sind Winzigkeiten!)

I somehow decided I needed a  fully boned pair of stays. So I started with the JPR stay pattern. 3.5 versions finally led me to a result that was to my liking. I found it quite tricky though to get them right, I found the front piece rather slim and the back piece quite high  But otherwise than that, I can really recommend the pattern. I used coutil, twill and linen as lining. And an enormous amount of steel boning. :) I am definitely going to use this pattern again. As you see, I have also inserted af front lacing, which can be easily done because the pattern in not cut on the fold in the front but has a seam anyway.

mit etwas Hilfe könnte man sogar die Schnürlücke gerade halten...

Rococo undies

Das komplette "Untendrunter" für mein "Basis-" Rokoko-Outfit ist nun fertig: Chemise (zusätzlich Tunnelzug am Ausschnitt), Stays, Taschen (alle nach La Fleur de Lyse)  und das Hüftkissen (von Wingeo #207) für die schöne runde Auspolsterung. :)

Here the complete set of undies for my basic Rococo outfit: chemise with ribbon, stays, a set of pockets (all La Fleur de Lyse patterns) and the bum roll (from Wingeo #207). :)

1750s Chemise and Stays

Stück für Stück arbeitet ich mich bei meinem 1750er Outfit weiter. Ich habe die Chemise (englischer Stil, Schmittmuster La Fleur de Lyse 18102) und die Stays (hellbeiger Köper mit leicht blauen Streifen, Period Impressions #511) fertiggestellt s.u. Eigentlich waren die Stays nur das Probemodell, aber ich mochte den Stoff dann doch sooo gern, dass es dabei bleibt. Das Period Impressions Schnittmuster fällt etwa 2 Nummern kleiner aus...  läßt sich aber sehr gut anpassen und geht auch sehr einfach und schnell zusammen. Damit werde ich sicherlich nochmal arbeiten. :)

Bit by bit I am working on my 1750s outfit. I have finished the Chemise (english style) and the Stays following La fleur de Lyse pattern 18102 and for the Stays Period Impressions #511. The chemise is made of light white linen, the stays are of cotton twill, it is light beige with bluish stripes, I just loved the fabric... it was meant as a scrap but I liked it this way. :) The stay patterns runs somewhat large... i had to go 2 sizes down. But it goes together really easy and is easy to adjust. Definitely a patterns I will work with again. :)