Regency on a Shoestring: Part One - Short Stays from the Scrap Bin

WILKIE, David; The Cottage Toilet; Wallace Collection, acc#P352; Oil on Panel, 30.1x38.4cm 

My plan over the next month or so is to make new, working class Regency era clothing for myself and possibly Pierre. The thought is, if I can do this project from my stash of fabrics, seriously on the cheap. I want to use pieces that I found on the discount wall at Fabricville, from scraps from other projects, and as quickly as I possibly can. Quickly, but also accurately as possible. I may be in the position of building a wardrobe again, and I want to show the site that this can be done cheaply and accurately, and that the interpretation staff can work in the clothes.

And because every good historical outfit begins with the foundations, I started by building new stays. I have been messing about with short stays for this period for a while now. My long line stays are lovely for standing looking pretty, for dancing as the most strenuous activity one could undertake. Friends who have acted as guinea pigs to my experimentation have needed working stays, one where they have the support and definition needed for the period, but also can do hard physical labour. Getting dressed by oneself is also a major issue. When I first noticed the above painting, I thought maybe the ladies were wearing a shorter version of an eighteenth-century stays style. And so, dug out my trusty, well fitting eighteenth-century stays and traced them off as a good starting point.

Front edge, top line, back edge all faintly traced off.

 Once I had the rough guide, I drew in my style lines and cut apart my new pattern. I would later slash into the top edge at the front to insert my bust gussets.

A rough draft

Pattern is flipped, so I would have clean lines to work with. The Centre back is extended to form a wrap around closing.

I cut all my pieces from scraps from the bin. Yes, scraps. From other projects. The 'fashion' layer wasn't even scrap from my bin, but from a friend's, so literally cost me nothing! The fashion layer is a linen stripe, interlined with unwashed factory cotton, the pink stripe is left over bits from my eighteenth-century work gown and will be used as a liner.

I wanted to have a light coloured outer layer so that I could wear any kind of gown fabric over it and the stays fabric wouldn't show through. The far right fabric is the striped linen fashion fabric. I used leftover thread from another project to sewing the bone channels. I picked the thread I had the most of, and that turned out to be pink.

Now, there is one thing that I have given up ever doing by hand ever again, and that's stitching bone channels. Never say never, right. That might come back to bite me in the arse later, but for now, I'm doing them by machine. I have a 'back stitch' stitch on my machine that unless you are nose to fabric, looks just like my hand stitched back stitch. The stitch is a giant thread suck though, so you need to have lots to start with.

 Here you can see my bone channels all stitched, and my bust gussets stitched in place. I use nylon zip ties for boning. I find they more closely resemble actual whalebone than anything I have seen. I use the 1/4" wide ones, and trim to length with heavy duty scissors. I stitch my gussets in by hand for better control and a nice finish. I can do them by machine, but it's fussy. Doing them by hand is so much easier and quicker. I added cotton twill tapes to the back extensions, long enough to tie in front of my body, under the bust.

I already have two good working shifts, so threw one on and had a quick fitting. Fitting notes: Bust gussets were too big, the centre front line was too floppy, and I needed shoulder straps for support. I also added a buttonhole to slide the under flap's tie through so I could tie it nicely in the front.

I spent the rest of the afternoon cutting a busk for the centre front edge and stitching in a twill tape pocket for it. Then I fixed the gusset issue, cut shoulder straps and stitched those on, and finally, started to lay in the lining. All that is left now is to finish stitching the lining in, binding them off, and working four eyelets to the shoulder straps.

I was really not happy with how floppy the front was, and so will likely add busks to any set of stays that I make with bust gussets. I find when you slash into that top edge, the edge just gets too floppy all around. The busk will keep the front firmly in place between the breasts, and I should have the right silhouette of boobs (separate) on a platter. The bottom edge of these stays are tabbed to allow for more room over the body, and to prevent a hard bottom edge. I was also able to have the ties sit over the stays, right under the bustline, which I wouldn't have been able to keep in place with modern reproduction short stays patterns. Having the ties slip down on to my body as I work would drive me mad, as I have a thing for tight ties around my body. Waistbands are the devil's work.

I will finish these tomorrow, then back to men's wear for a bit...I still have actual paid work to do.