#regency sewing

[Image ID: a flat photo of Regency-esque short stays made of unbleached muslin]

I started my Regency fashion journey back in the summer of 2017 and I… have not made it very far. All I have right now are a chemise that I can’t get over my shoulders (whoops!) and a set of nice looking short stays with some dark secrets. I’m disappointed with my progress - it’s hard not to be - but I’m trying my best to look at this as a learning experience. So, without further ado, let’s dig into my stays!

These are the designs and pattern pieces I started with. I drafted the pattern myself, which was a first for me, and the pattern turned out surprisingly well! The finished product even fits well!

[Image ID: three mostly rectangular sewing pattern pieces labeled, from right to left, "front", "side", and "back"]

In the original designs, I had planned to have boning on either side of the center front lacing. I was forced to scrap that, as my chest just isn’t that wide. I also changed the number of gussets in each cup to four, instead of three, and made each gusset the same shape. They seem to work fine, but I’d be curious to see if shaping them would make much of a difference.

The gussets did not turn out well at all. I had never sewn gussets before, and didn’t bother doing any research before I jumped into them. I admit I still haven’t read up on gussets, but I suspect that part of the problem was that I had mis-measured the gussets and made the seam allowances too small, so when I folded in the seam allowances for the front panels and sewed them down, the gussets didn’t catch in some places. To remedy this, I hand sewed them using what could, on a technicality, be called a whip stitch, I think. The quality of my stitching isn’t very consistent, but it is very nice to run my fingers along in some places, and it serves to reinforce the seams there, which is probably a good thing.

The eyelets were also a first for me, and most of them turned out very nicely! There are 14 eyelets total, all hand-bound, with metal jump rings inside them for reinforcement. You can definitely tell which eyelets were my first if you look closely, but I’m very happy with how they turned out!

The body of the stays is just two layers of unbleached muslin. Something sturdier would have been better. The edges are bound in off-white bias tape, which seems to have worked well enough. The boning is heavy-duty zip ties, a carry-over from my cosplay days. The boning at both sides of the center front, where a busk should be, is actually just a wooden dowel. Doubling up the zip ties wasn’t giving me the support I needed for the bust (lift and separate!), so I had to find an alternative. Obviously, neither zip ties nor wooden dowels (or the jump rings in the eyelets) are ideal or washable, but they do, technically, get the job done.

Each cup has a drawstring at the top for adjustability. The shoulder straps tie to the front, also for adjustability. I ordered the cord I used for those and the front lacing from Wm Booth Draper. I had never heard of them before, but they seemed to be well-established and had lots of good reviews on their Facebook page, so I took the chance and was not let down!

To finish off, since this has gotten to be a lot longer than I meant it to, I’m not completely happy about how these turned out, but they fit and have been a very good learning opportunity for me, so I am content. I do plan on remaking them in the future, but that might be very far into the future, at this rate.