The stays are finally done!

Here they are, in very romantic candle light. I'm quite pleased with them, I love the fit and their appearance.
The front and back lacing is wonderful. My beloved M laced me in once and now I can get in and out of my stays by my self. WIN!

I use 6 mm baby blue satin ribbon for lacing, because it looks pretty and are sturdy. Not very period correct, but I couldn't find anything else in the right colour. I tried plain old white corset lacing but it looked horrible and with all the work I have put in this pair of stays I want them too look their best.

So here are the final info on my stays:
Pattern: c.a 1780's from Jill Salens book, modified to fit my body
Materials and construction: 2 layers of linen twill with a silver silk dupion on the outside. Silvery blue silk dupion for piping and binding. Channels made with machine, threaded with silk button hole twist for top thread and regular sewing silk for bobbin. Eyelets done by hand with silk button hole twist. All assembly was done by hand using white linen thread. Binding by hand used threads pulled from the binding fabric for a perfect color match.. For lining I used white cotton/linen (remnants from my chemise), and it was sewn in by hand after the binding was done using white linen thread.
Boning: Steel flats made from sewer tape in centre front and in centre back (sewer tape is much stiffer than regular steel flats and crinoline steel).  Synthetic whalebone for the rest.

In the photo you can also see my modified chemise, I removed the lace ruffle because it was a PITA to iron flat after each washing and I felt that it often was in the way when patterning garments.

I'm also wearing my new decency petticoat, I decided to make one since my chemise is so short. It was very simple to make, I just took an old linen bed sheet and sewed it into a tube by hand.Then I made a drawstring channel at the top, made two tiny button holes and threaded a ribbon through. DONE!

Now I'm working on my outfit for the masquerade held by Gustafs Skål in March. It's a secret what my character are going to be, but I can tell you that the outfit will consist of an pierrot jacket, floofy white petticoat and reticule. With hedgehog hair of course. And a mask and some character appropriate accessories ;)

I'm currently working with the jacket pattern, the papier mache mask base is recieving some moisture protection before I can embellish it, the floofy petticoat is cut out and ready to be sewn together and my under petticoat is also cut. I'll sew the floofy one by hand and the rest by machine with some hand finishing. I hope to be able to start making the jacket this weekend, so I can measure how much trim I need. I'll have to order the trim from my sister (the fabric stores in Uppsala are not well stocked on pretty trim) so I must hurry so it will get here in time.




Well I'll better get working on it then...and hope that I'll be able to post some more pictures soon.

/L