Regency stays
I recently binge-watched Bridgerton and it made me want to make a Regency outfit. So I bought a Redthreaded Regency stays pattern, along with the wooden busks they provide and some steel boning. The materials were sitting on my sewing table for a few weeks and one night, despite the many other projects I should be finishing first, I opened the package and one thing led to another and in a few days, I had my finished stays... I am still very surprised it was finished so quickly.
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The Regency era is a strange blip in history that lasted from only about 1800 to 1820 and during which waistlines rose up to the underbust line in an attempt to resemble classical statues. The conical bust shape was forgotten, and the ideal silhouette was column-like. To achieve the highest possible waist and short bust, necklines went down and the breasts were pushed up. This was achieved via stays that cup the breasts and lift them up, thanks to triangular gores inserted in the bust area. As this new design was a lot less constrictive, there was no longer a need for so much stiff boning, and cording was commonly used instead to stiffen the material.
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The pattern is very good, clear and easy to understand <3. I made a mockup with 2 layers of calico, and there are a few minor corrections: I widened the bust gores, angled the straps outwards a bit, and dropped the bottom edge on the front to make the busk longer, and make it sit more vertically (not sure about how comfortable that is going to be in the long run). To be fair to the pattern designers, they don't recommend using a wooden busk in the short stays version because this shorter length means that it does not sit straight up against the chest, it points outward on the top, pointing into the sternum on the bottom, which is not very comfortable. I find that making it longer makes it sit correctly, but it rests on the fleshy bit below the sternum... Also, since the wooden busk is not meant for this version of the stays, I had to cut it down to length and shape the new curved edge with my back saw and miter box.
I made the corset with coutil (black because it is the only colour I have left) and this beautiful textured check linen fabric that I bought a long time ago. I did a bit of piecing of the fashion fabric to line up the squares the way I wanted, and put some fusible interfacing around the gores and eyelets for reinforcement. I tried my best to line up the lines in the pattern, but it's not perfect. I then cut out the steel bones, filed the sharp edges and covered them in white fabric duct tape-like tape that I use for temporary costume fixes.
Here is the final result assembled, with the eyelets all sewn in. I am so happy with the fit and the look, I can't wait to get the rest of the outfit done! The skirt in the pictures is from ArmStreet. Fashion shots by Gilles Concordel.
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