Tag Archives: 18th century

#0126 Late 18th-century Stays Part 1 (Step 1-5)

I’m very happy to share my new late 18th-century stays pattern with you finally.

This project has been in the making for quite some time and is the result of careful study of historical construction techniques. My goal was to create a pattern that is both accurate and approachable, while still working well for the modern body.

With this pattern, I’ll guide you through the process step by step, including historically accurate techniques such as constructing each panel individually and assembling them with whip stitch. At the same time, you’ll have the flexibility to choose where modern methods might suit you better.

If you’ve ever wanted to explore 18th-century sewing or add a pair of stays to your wardrobe, this pattern is a great place to start.

First of all, you’ll want to think about your fabric choice. Most extant stays from this period are constructed from two to three layers of fabric, often with two coarse linen base layers to protect the fashion fabric. An additional cotton lining is sewn to the inside to protect the stays from sweat, and can easily be replaced if necessary.

For my sample, I used a single layer of coarse, heavy linen as the base and a lovely linen twill as the top layer. For the boning channels, I chose a contrasting silk buttonhole thread and stitched the channels using a half backstitch.

For more details on 18th-century stays, I warmly recommend these two books: Corsets and Crinolines by Norah Waugh and Patterns of Fashion 5: The Content, Cut, Construction and Context of Bodies, Stays, Hoops and Rumps c. 1595–1795.

It’s time to move directly into cutting our fabrics and starting to sew. As always, we’ll follow the pattern instructions step by step with many pictures, followed by a short detour on how to sew some of the corset’s trickiest and most time‑consuming parts with the sewing machine.

(1) Cut out all pieces: basic layer (one or two layers), fashion fabric, and the lining. I decided to cut my pieces from fabric slightly larger than the pattern pieces, which in the end wasn’t necessary. I was simply worried that the pieces would shrink once the boning was added.

Line up the basic layer with the fashion fabric, wrong sides together, optionally the second basic layer in between. Mark the stitching lines; seam allowance is 1 1/4”  (3cm) along the center front and center back, 5/8” (1,5cm) along all other edges, and baste along the stitching line.

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#0126 Late 18th-century Stays Part 2 (Step 6-12)

Part 1 ( Step 1-5)

(6) Take the shoulder straps and turn in the seam allowances between (7) and (8). Fell to the basic layer as described before.

(7) Now all the pieces are prepared, and the side edges of each panel are cast individually. First, take the fronts and line them up along the center front, right sides together. With a double-threaded needle, whip-stitch together the fronts from the bottom until reaching point (9). Bar tack the ends securely and press open.

Line up the front and side front, right sides together, matching points (1) and (2). Then, again with a double-threaded needle, whip stitch together, starting at points (1) and (2). Stop right before reaching the seam allowance at the top. In the same way, whip stitch the side back to the side front, matching points (3) and (4), and the back to the side back, matching points (5) and (6). Finally, whip stitch the strap to the side back, matching points (7) and (8).

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How to get small, regular pleats on 17th or 18th century skirts

For small folds (minimum ¼” (5mm)), measure the distance of the waistband or bodice section, where you want to attach the skirt.

Let´s say 35cm for an 18th century robe a l´Anglaise. Determine the width of folds and therefore the number of folds – with a width of 5mm there would be 70 folds each side (that makes a total of 140! folds).

Measure along the top edge of the skirt, from center back to the front edge, subtract about 1” from this measurement (e.g. 138cm-2cm=136cm). Divide this measurement by the number of folds (136cm/70=1,9cm). This is how much fabric each folds contains. Transfer that measurements to the wrong side of the top edge of the skirt. Mark the fold´s width (5mm) beside. As a rule, the skirt width has to be minimum three times the distance at the bodice/waistband.

In this sample I wanted to gather 45cm into 10cm, with pleats of 5mm. That means I divided 45cm by 20, that is 2,25cm for each fold. On the picture above I marked this 2,25cm at the wrong fabric side along the top edge. On the picture below, I marked the fold´s width of 5mm beside.

Sew two rows of gathering stitches with a thicker thread on both sides of the seamline. Above you see the wrong side, below the right fabric side of the skirt with the gathering threads already stitched.

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