1700s Stays: Maybe not the Simplicity Pattern

Hello Everyone,

Being that I am a novice to all things sewing, I am not trying to make more alternations than I need too, however, I am finding due to my apple shape and large breast that everything under the sun needs alterations. The pattern I was originally going to use was going to require a lot of additional alterations, so I switched it out.

What happened?

I belong to a few different sewing groups on facebook, for corsets, and 18th-century sewing and what I learned recently is that the American Duchess for Simplicity version was scaled weird when simplicity got the drafts from their creator and are too short. This came from someone at the company, so I was advised it is still a great pattern for starting, however, it needs to be lengthened. This pattern was originally appealing to be because of the front and back lacing would allow more flexibility for fitting my chest and belly.

The thing is, I have never made stays before and in addition to figuring out how to add some room to the sides and techniques to accommodate my chest, I didn't want to deal with how to lengthen a pattern correctly too. Especially since I am getting burnt out already. I have made 3 mockups so far, two out of cloth, and one out of cardboard. (amusingly enough, I also found I was constructing the cloth stays wrong, so I had to completely start over.)

From here on out I am going to be using a different pattern, the Butterick 4254 Version. I was going to do that back lacing only, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that would make getting in and out on my own difficult. So I am doing the front and back lacing version, however, I do still need to add some room for my chest, and I will need to add some room to the waist.

I have no expectations of these first stays being anything wonderful so they will be a little more crudely constructed, I will probably use metal eyelets and machine sew everything that can be, and keep it for my LARP characters costume. Once I figure them out, I will make a more elegant version for my Halloween costume.

I need to get more muslin for this, so It will possibly be a week or so before I have another update. I am sorry for the inconsistent postings.

I am also working on my first draping project so I will let you know how that goes too.

Thanks for reading,
Jessi