Practical Instructions in Stay Making
December 8th, 2010
These are posted verbatim from the August 1857 (not 1858, as I had previously thought) issue of Godey’s Lady’s Book, with gratitude to Accessible Archives for making them so, well, accessible.
Stay Stitching
December 7th, 2010
I’ve been working on a new pair of (badly needed) stays. They’re based on an 1858 pattern published in Godey’s under their Practical Dress Instructor department and I am following the directions to the letter. I spent a great deal of time — and used a lot of scrap upholstery fabric — making a paper pattern that fits me to a T.
Since the directions assume that you are already familiar with the fit and form of mid-19th century stays, I’ve also taken a few hints from the stay-making instructions in The Workwoman’s Guide. Learning, for instance, that the side seams of the stays should fall just a little bit towards the back of your actual side. But for the most part, I am sticking to the Godey’s directions for cutting out and making up.
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