Stays, Completed!

 I’m going to admit here that there were not a lot of pictures taken, as I got distracted while finishing up my stays. I also learned two things when they were done: 1) Lacing on your own with Long Covid is exhausting and 2) I probably should have made them a little shorter. Still, that’s for next time, when I make some overall changes and create a new pattern. I’m very glad I made the changes I did and as you can see in the photos, they worked REALLY well.

I have not been particularly well over the last couple of weeks, as a cold completely floored me and I also have a gammy toe. This is being seen to by professionals later this week. I’ve also got a few appointments, a podcast recording and so on. 

Anyway… As predicted, I had measured too long on the stays, which is OK as I plan to use these on the next variant. I also found and ordered a narrower custom busk, which HAS added to the cost. I am still dithering over ordering the Red Threaded regency stays pattern and also self patterning up a more transitional set. I finally downloaded the Black Snail spencer pattern and am eyeing up my navy cotton sateen dodgy pillowcases as potential fabric stash. What? You make do with what you’ve got. I was planning on sending the whole king size duvet set, plus four pillowcases and the flat sheet to the charity shop anyway, so I might as well use it for costuming and wardrobe projects instead. With all the seam unpicking finally done, I will also be able to get on with my new dress project, which I think will take a bit of pattern adjustment and mock-up for the front at least. Plus I really have to deal with my shoulder issues. They’re NARROW. I also took some measurements over my regency stays and, as I couldn’t resist prancing around in it, my Regency P&P Lizzy Dress (coveted since 1995). I have even had both petticoats on to decide where to fix them up. 

I did put too many eyelets in I think, but on the plus side I suspect this means I might be able to do a variety of lacing styles, including spiral. The current plan is to cut long lengths of twill tape and convert it to fan lacing, to make it super easy to get in and out of. As a result, I re-laced the stays, using about half the eyelets and it’s now much easier to do myself, giving the same support. The Gravity Devices work very well, so I’m going to continue to use my original plan and secure them in place with at least one safety pin, as they could possibly fall out without something to hold them in place during activity. I learned THAT from the loss of both my Georgian/regency garters at the Fringe a few years ago. 

Anyway, without further ado, here’s the photo collection (which will be added to the usual gallery over on Pages). Enjoy, while I remind myself to take all my meds, supplements and neck another cup of coffee! The first pic is me properly dressed in all four layers - that petticoat really makes a difference when it comes to the bodice.