Adventures in 18th Century Stay Making

A Strictly Un-Historical Guide (part 1)

Oh dear...so I've officially started on the 18th century costuming excursion and I'm making the stays.

I'd really much rather work on any other part of the out...but stays first, since they're the foundation (literally) for everything else I'm going to make.

Lovely stays from Before the Automobile.

Full disclosure: I decided (many years and many dress sizes ago) that I wanted to make a pair of stays.  I was fresh off a Victorian corset adventure and totally feeling up to it.  I cut the pattern and fitted it and then I started gaining weight and decided that it probably wasn't a great idea to continue making something incredibly time and labor intensive that I probably wouldn't fit for very long and which I couldn't even wear.

I think I still have that mockup around somewhere.

At any rate, even if this isn't really my first time, I'm definitely green as far as stay making goes.

I've read a lot about it, which to be honest is only making more terrified of making these stays.

I cut the pattern out and measured it since the finished garment measurements are weirdly not on the pattern back or the pattern itself.  It seems like it should make up to a reasonable size for me, but that remains to be seen.

I used some spare cotton duck cloth in my stash from when I decided it would be cute to make shopping bags.

Look!  Roosters!

I never made them (shocking I know), but the fabric seems like it'll be OK for a mock up and fitting, although I may use a different fabric for the finished item since there's a bit of stretch to it.

There are only a few pieces for the stays, but of course when I actually make the finished garment I'll need to cut multiples.  Can't wait.


Shoes and stockings will be ordered by the weekend.  Baby steps.

In Which I Venture into the 18th Century

The Partner in Crime and I have stated a little Meetup group to further our costuming adventures, so hopefully there will be more excuses for me to make and wear things and consequently more reasons to update the blog take pictures.  We're trying to do one event every month.  We shall see.

May was Steampunk World's Fair, June is a little vintage themed tea, and July is Bastille Day at the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia.

Steampunk and various vintage periods are well within my wheelhouse.  I can cobble that stuff together pretty easily and I've sewn for those periods before.  The 18th century is a whole new beast.

I have none of the undergarments and nothing even remotely suitable to wear and I'm unlikely to pick up anything appropriate at the Goodwill.

Luckily it is pretty popular with reenactors, so I can research fairly easily and I patterns are available and the event isn't really meant to be historically accurate, so I'm not feeling overwhelmed on that end.

I'm going to attempt something working-class for this event. 

A word about accuracy:  I'm not concerned about historical accuracy in my costuming.  I enjoy the research and I can probably tell you more than the average person about what people really wore at any given time in history, but I also know that period appropriate fabrics are expensive and period techniques (like hand sewing) can be time consuming.  I'm far more interested in making something that is evocative of the period at a cost that is reasonable to me in the 21st century.  

Planning

American Duchess just released some patterns for Simplicity that I'm going to use as a starting point for my undergarments and a little jacket.  I'm planning to make the petticoat without a pattern. (Pray for me).

 


They're Outlander themed, which would be a bit earlier than the period I'm shooting for, but the base patterns should be pretty good for what I'm planning: A walking length skirt and Pierrot jacket.  I'll need to make some alterations, but it's a good start.

I'm hoping the end result will be something like this from the Kyoto Costume Institute:

Vive la revolution!

As intimidated as I am of this project I've really been wanting to do something from this period for a while and now I finally have an excuse.  And I have an excuse to buy these gorgeous shoes that I've been lusting after for at least a year...

American Duchess Kensington Shoes in Oxblood
Be still, my heart.

So...things I need to make:

• chemise
• stays
• bum pad or bum roll
• fichu
• cap (maybe)
• apron (maybe)
• at least one petticoat (but I really need several)
• skirt
• jacket

Plus I need to buy stockings and shoes and a hat.  And the event is in a month.  

It's highly likely that I will not make that chemise.  I'm not banking on it, but the stays are non-negotiable.  I have to make them and the bum pad or it's just not going to look right and I'm slightly terrified of making the stays.

I picked up a super cute (but probably not even remotely historically accurate) fabric for the jacket at JoAnns and found some pretty fabric for the stays, ordered reed boning (that I may or may not use), and ordered some linen blend fabric for the petticoat(s). 

Stay tuned.

Steampunk World's Fair 2016

The Partner in Crime and I attended the Steampunk World's Fair in Piscataway, NJ a few weeks ago.  Unlike last year I actually remembered to take pictures of our outfits.  Don't get excited, they're not great pictures, but they do exist!  Baby steps.

Friday

We arrived late on Friday night since she'd worked all day and I was furiously finishing up costume bits.  I know this is shocking, but I decided to add stuff at the last minute and then didn't actually have the materials to complete that piece.  Planning!

So Friday we knew we were going to go to the American Murder Song premiere for VIPs.  Bought the VIP tickets especially for it.

We ended up not actually seeing it because we chatted with friends before going to see the show.  That was dumb.  Lesson learned.

We'd decided to go with a dark theme for this night.

PiC is a voodoo priestess.  I lamed out on my costume makeup and just ended up wearing some black and blue stuff that I cobbled together.

The lace shirt is from the Goodwill and worn over a blue tank top from H&M.  Blue and black paisley corset is the 426 from Orchard Corset, and the black skirt is the bustle skirt from hell that I made up for Steampunk Unlimited last year.

 

Saturday

Right, so we decided that for the big Saturday costume we were going to make Strawberry Shortcake and Blueberry Muffin outfits and compete in the costume contest.  We were pretty excited until we realized that when the event coordinators announced the schedule there was no costume contest. *whomp whomp*

Because the schedule only comes out a few days before the event and costumes take considerably longer than that to create we were both already pretty deep into the Berries.

We decided to persevere since at this point I was mostly done with the creation of significant parts of the outfit and she'd already purchased everything for hers.  We were going to look cute either way.

But at the last minute a sponsor came forward and they were able to make a costume contest happen!  We participated but were totally blown away by some of the amazing costumes so we didn't win.  This outfit was so comfortable that I ended up staying in it all day.  Hooray!

Here's me being Lieutenant Strawberry Shortcake, Airship Brigade

Everyone thought I was a stewardess....I am not a stewardess.

I dug myself in pretty deep attempting to make a pair of jhodpurs from the new Butterick pattern (B6340) that just didn't end up coming out to anything that I could wear.  It's actually a pretty nice pattern, but it probably shouldn't be make up in white. (Bad things happened.  That's another story.)

In the end I made the jacket (more details in a future post) and did a quick modification on some pants from WalMart.

I purchased the corset from Timeless Trends and found the blouse at Goodwill. The socks are leprechaun socks from JoAnn's bought on clearance after St. Paddy's Day.  There's an obnoxious buckle just under the knee, it's hidden by the pants.  I already owned the brown boots.

Some detail pictures of the jacket and my adorable strawberry medal.

 

And a better picture of the hat

Kimono Dress

I wore the kimono dress Saturday morning, but styled it differently from last year.  Of course, I have zero pictures of last year's outfit...

Here it is this year.

 

I made a bustle!  And yes, I am in desperate need of a petticoat.  It's on the project list.

The obnoxiously coral underskirt was the last minute project.  I ended up at Walmart around 1 PM on Friday to buy thread to finish that skirt.  Because I am the queen of last-minute costuming the skirt is finished and actually not half bad.

It's not properly made up by any means and the side and back seams are sewn with white thread, but it's in one piece and it's wearable.  

Some (maybe not so) obvious problems with the skirt:  It's too short in the back.  I bought 4 yards of this fabric assuming that i was going to use one pattern and then decided to use a different pattern.  This was probably a good idea in the end, since the new pattern allowed for the giant bustle in the back, but I ended up short about a yard of fabric, so I didn't actually make the pattern properly which ultimately left it short in the back.

It didn't really matter for this outfit since the back is covered. but if I want to make wear it with the bustle and no over skirt I am going to have to lengthen it.  Somehow.  Right.



I also made that giant bustle.  It wasn't as hard as I anticipated and I was actually able to make it entirely in two evenings after work.

It was serviceable for the event, but still needs work. There's some really terrible gathering at the top that luckily got covered by the waistband but I managed to totally mis-measure the waistband so it's too short.  I also ended up having so much trouble with the boning piece at the top that I gave up on it.  I called it done at the time, but I will correct the waistband issue and add the extra boning piece at the top.  I also wanted to add a pleated ruffle at the bottom, but I got lazy (shocking) so I didn't do it.

And yes, I see the very obvious boning through the dress.  I know I am also in dire need of a petticoat.  I actually just bought some sheets that I intend to cannibalize to make a lovely yellow petticoat.  With ruffles.  Progress.

Some close up shots of my hair and the corset.

 

 Sunday

Sunday was a quick pack up and leave.  We'd planned to wear our lovely outfits purchased from Midnight Orchid and I paired mine with a tank top.  Under normal May weather circumstances this would have been perfect, but the weather did not cooperate and we ended up freezing our butts off and changing into civilian clothes in short order.  Unfortunately no photos since we changed so quickly.

Steampunk Unlimited and the Bustle Skirt from Hell!

I'm such a procrastinator.  I have a terrible, terrible habit of planning really well and then just not executing.  *sigh*

At any rate, Steampunk Unlimited...  I've known since last year that I'd be going to this.  Do I have anything to wear?  No, no I don't.  Well...I mean I could wear what I wore last year...or something I wore to Steampunk World's Fair...or I could have finished one of my UFOs...but I didn't.  I decided I wanted to do something different.

Of course I did.  Over planning and under performing.  Yep, that sounds about right.

So after the crazyness of impromptu costuming all summer and the Prohibition party I finally sat down to decide what I wanted to wear.

Two weeks before the event.

Yep.  That sounds right.

I have a pretty decent fabric and pattern stash, so I started there.  I found Simplicity 1819, which I've been wanting to make for a while.  I actually have a stash of lovely home decor fabrics that I purchased specifically with this pattern in mind.  I pulled some of the fabric and played around with my surprisingly vast selection of corsets and settled on two outfits.

Yes, two.  In spite of the fact that we're only going for one day and that I had just two weeks to make the outfits.

Sounds about right.

I wanted something that I could wear during the day and then easily change in the parking lot for a different look for the evening concert.  I decided to make the long skirt without the apron and the short view separate, wear one corset and bring a second.  I knew I wanted to change the waistband to a  drawstring to make it easier to get in and out of and eliminate the need for adjustments later.  I hate adjustments.  I don't like the ruffle, so I planned to extend the bottom to make it long enough and eliminate all that work making the ruffle. 

Awesome.  So I had a game plan, got myself together and cut the pattern out.

And then nothing.  Because I have an event in two weeks, so there's no pressure for me to make anything yet, right?  I don't even have a good excuse for this, I just didn't want to do it.

So this weekend I knew I needed to get this stupid skirt made.  So I watched TV and didn't actually start working on the skirt until 3 PM on Saturday.  Ugh such a procrastinator.

At some point during the cutting process it occurred to me that I might not have enough fabric to actually execute on this grand plan.

It was about this point that I realized that I'd already screwed up.

This pattern is weird.  It's an apron and bustle built onto the skirt.  The front and back cascades are all separate pieces.  I did not realize this when I cut the pattern pieces or when I started to cut the fabric.

The front of the skirt under the apron is three pieces.  I ended up cutting two of those pieces at the longer length, but not as long as I wanted to replace the ruffle before I realized my mistake.

The apron is (way way!) too short to make without anything under it (although now that I think of it it would have looked cute over leggings...)  Since they were too short to use for the long skirt and too long for the short skirt,  I cut them down, but I ended up wasting a good chunk of the fabric because of it.

Luckily I caught it before cutting the third panel or the back pieces.  *sigh*  Once I realized my mistake I cut the remaining pieces and started putting the short skirt together.  I figured of the two skirts the shorter one would be more versatile and I knew I'd definitely have the fabric for it.

I ended up about 1 yard too short to make the longer underskirt and decided to go to the fabric store in the hopes that they might have some more of the fabric.

I bought this stuff on red tag clearance from JoAnn's years ago but I still see it show up occasionally.  The problem is that it's not JoAnn's fabric, its remnants from somewhere else that end up there, so if it wasn't in clearance there wouldn't be any of it anywhere in the store.  It was a crapshoot, but I decided to at least try to see if I could get some more of it.

They didn't have it.  They had the same taffeta in a gorgeous teal color that I seriously considered buying to make a layer, but ultimately decided against.  And that is how I wasted most of my Sunday.

Let's recap: wasted half of Saturday cutting fabric I ended up not using.  Wasted half of Sunday shopping for fabric I ended up not buying.  Skirt still in pieces.  Event the following Saturday.

Awesome.

That is how I ended up sewing this stupid thing together at 10 PM the weekend before Steampunk Unlimited and why as of Monday and it still was not done.

I ended up scrapping the cascades because I am, quite frankly, too lazy to cut a lining or properly finish the edges.  I'll tell you it's because I don't like the way they look, but that's only half true.

So I spent all that time carrying the pattern markings over to the fabric and by the time I actually needed them they'd worn off on all the pieces except for the cascades, which I wasn't using.  Excellent.  Guess it's not like I needed them or anything...

In addition to deciding to scrap the waistband I also decided that I didn't like the weird bustle pulley system Simplicity wanted me to rig up or to line the bustle.  I ended up deciding to make the bustle like I did for my skirt last year and just tack up the puffy bits.  So I really didn't need a lot of those markings.  I made a rolled hem on the bustle.  I hate rolled hems.

As of Monday and the skirt was mostly done.  I managed to tack up the puffy bits on the bustle (previously held up with safety pins) and hemmed the skirt.  True to form, I did this Friday night after work.

I also found out at that last minute it was going to be in the 50s on Saturday and my "clothing" plan was a short skirt, lace top, and a corset...I contemplated making myself a jacket too.

Unexpected jacket made in less than a week?  Hahaha! No.  I wore a cloak that I'd made years ago for a red riding hood costume.