the journey's foundations

As much as I really wanted to dive headfirst into all my sewing, I was good and did what really needed doing: new stays. My yellow stays, as wonderfully comfy as they are, are too big. I can lace them fully shut, and still pinch a good inch and a half out of the front while wearing them. So for my new pair (which accidentally matched HSF#3) all I did was lay down my current pair, trace the shape, then take off some width from the front and back, then add in new seam lines. Easy stuff. I didn't shorten the waist because I like where my other pair sit, and I'm somewhat short-waisted already. I patterned these to work for either 1780s with a center front gusset, the way I sewed this pair, or to work for 1790s stuff with bust gussets, based on the 1790 linen corset in Jill Salen's "Corsets".

For this pair I wanted that 1780s "prow" front shape, and put a long gusset in the middle. On the side shot you can see the forward curve of the stays. Making these was quite an adventure, as I used, quite literally, every single kind of boning I had in my house in these stays. The problem of working a) on a deadline, and b) while snowed in repeatedly. The center front and center back bones are 1/2" German plastic whalebone. The rest of it is a mix of 1/4" steel bones, cable ties, and for the longest channels where I didn't have anything else, the same cane I used in my other stays. I hadn't turned down the edges before trying them on, just to make sure everything would work and fit right, but after taking them off I've done the top edge. I'll get to the bottom at some point. I don't think I'll bind or line them before the dinner unless I have extra time at the end.



I also made myself a new rump yesterday to go under everything. I went by the article demode wrote for Foundations Revealed, about late 18th century skirt supports. It gives me both hip oomph as well as rear shape, so I'm happy with it.


(my mirror looks so dirty! Eek!)

The reason I'm going for the rounder look with this, rather than just using pocket hoops as the Denmark piemontaise appears to show, is because I really like the shape of this francaise in the Met's collection, and because having the back shape makes the pleats stand out even further, being further away from the body.


I'm trying to decide if I should press the pleats down to where they'll attach to the skirts. All of the existing piemontaises show flat pleats, but is that how they were originally made, or is that from storage? I'm not sure.

And to round out this post, yesterday I also draped the bodice pattern, based on the Denmark PDF. Either later today or tomorrow I will cut out a full bodice and sleeve in scrap to make sure it fits, then onto the silk!