Over on my Facebook page (The Costumeer), you’ll find a post about the ongoing progress of the stays. I WAS going to copy and paste (essentially) into this blog, but then I couldn’t be bothered. Oops.
There has been a bit of a gap in production, so to speak: It was a sister’s 40th birthday, so I ventured out to see her. For the first time in over two years, I was in a pub. Admittedly, only for about 45 minutes, but I get to factor in travel time on buses and the like and it still knocked me sideways. There was a family dinner, but I didn’t feel up to six siblings, two partners and three small children for a couple of hours. I did my duty and did see the brother I see very little of, which was very nice.
I have also been dealing with the many boxes of family papers and photographs that I have had to give houseroom to for nine years, which has been a source of such extreme irritation that I could rant for days. Let it be known that we know what’s what, the youngest sister is now taking it all over and most of it is now out of my home. If I have to move, that’s four less boxes to worry about storing.
Being part of a medical trial and on a distinctly low amount of calories for a few days until my GP put a stop to it, as well as nasty reactions to ingredients in the trial has NOT helped.
Then my former roommate and dear friend arrived from Australia, armed with gifts of a culinary variety. As I am still in the trial, albeit on more calories a day, these have been carefully stashed away. She’s now off to Europe, armed with most of my stash of travel goodies, plus some guide and phrase books (I am a useful friend) and a new dress (as the Star Wars green dress is really too big for me but fits her perfectly. I will be ordering more fabric and making another). That, plus a rescan of part of my body at the hospital and I’ve been somewhat exhausted, even with napping, but that’s Long Covid for you.
On with the stays!
I have been pondering construction of these. As I’m essentially MacGyvering two patterns and fiddling, it’s taking some thought. So, I decided to think this over as I did a fair amount of basting. Historically, basting has not been something I do. That said, when it comes to fiddly small pieces and slightly sloping hems, plus knowledge that I probably would have saved myself a lot of trouble if I HAD bothered to do it in the recent past… well yes, I decided basting is the way forwards. I also have had previous experience of stays projects before and lack of basting DID prove to be a mistake. I can learn, see, look Mum, I’m basting! So far, I already picked up one seam before even basting, that I had pinned incorrectly.
The issue for me is that 1) I have not decided what I want to do about the straps and whether or not these will be entirely or partly cotton twill tape. It’s easier if I don’t, as then I can bind the entire top and then firmly stitch them to the main part of the stays. On the other hand, if I make the straps at least partly in fabric, there will be a greater degree of comfort across the shoulder: Being the victim of a large set of twins has shown me this. While MOST of the support will come from the main part of the stays, I.e. across my chest, some of the hoiking (for want of a better word) and support will come from the straps and I don’t want them to dig in. A fix for this would be to make some kind of “sleeve” to go over the straps at the shoulder, which would be adjustable. I also bet women of the period came up with novel ways to address this. The good news on my overall strap design is that there ARE two extant examples around the period of a similar design to what I’ve come up with.
2) By far the biggest issue is the way I’m handling the bust gussets, which is to sandwich them between the two layers of drill and sew them down in one. This means, with seam allowance, going through SIX layers of drill. This would mean that all layers would then be treated as one at that point. Obviously, i can then stitch the sides/backs fairly easily as individual layers, but this would then create a small issue at the back seam, as I wouldn’t be able to sew them together and then turn them right side out: with the gussets already in place, it’s not going to work. I CAN turn under the correct seam allowance at the back and top stitch it down.
The alternative is to stitch all the panels together, except for the gussets, stitch the layers together at the back seams ONLY, turn it right side out (as it’s going to be bound across the top and bottom anyway) and THEN sandwich in the gussets as before. I am also reminded that, as far as I’m concerned, I haven’t quite decided on if the back panels need trimmed back any further to take into account flexibility on weight change.
I’m also reminded, especially if I am planning on further trimming the back pieces, that I can also bind those edges if I have to AND top stitching isn’t the end of the world.
If I was doing a lining, this wouldn’t matter, as I could simply treat all the layers as one, but most extant examples of these kind of stays are only two layers and I don’t have the right fabric to line it with to be honest. Plus, I also can’t be bothered. I don’t want to fell down my seams or cover them with a lining - I still have the separate busk pocket to figure out, which is STILL going on last (I’ve learned from many eyelet mistakes, so I have.
Anyway, I’ve still got some seam un-ripping to do, bits and pieces to salvage from ye olde wrap-over set and the final eight steel bones arrived today. I’ve also researched what I need to do to aid gravity 😂 on the inside. After that, if I can, I might dig out the sewing machine (what? I’m not sewing ALL of this by hand…) and sew together the seams that need doing, with some HEAVY ironing tomorrow.
So that’s where I am, this fine Saturday. If you care to see photographs (as I am sure we all know I am utterly useless at inserting them in these blog posts), they’re over on The Costumeer. I have not, however, taken any of the basted pieces as I deem that a bit boring.
Until next time, dear friends.
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