my hands hurt

[miss_philomena]

I spent somewhere between six and seven hours stuffing bones into my stays today, and I'm still not done. Of course it's my own fault for deciding to make a fully boned pair that has 12 pieces. :x But I took a picture of what's done so far!



I'm going to do the eyelets before I bone the center back pieces, so those haven't been touched yet, and I have most of the left side back panel to bone still as well, but I was tired and my hands were getting pretty sore at that point. I'm using 1/4" cane for my boning, except for the channels on either side of the eyelets, which will be steel bones. And I might put a busk in as well, but I might wait until I wear them to decide.

Comments

[madamekat.livejournal.com]

Wow, I can appreciate how much work that is! Is it usual to bone the pieces before they are sewn together? What gown are you making this for? I can't wait to see!

[miss-philomena.livejournal.com]

This is just how I'm opting to do it, as it's far easier to work with smaller pieces when wresting stuff into the channels, and there are a couple that will be entirely enclosed if I pieced it all together before boning. Plus I'm less likely to accidentally sew into one of the edge channels if the bone is already in them.

And these will mainly be for use at Pennsbury Manor, because looking back at pictures my mantua looks horrible with nothing under it. :x

[seweccentric.livejournal.com]

Very pretty! I'm loving the color, too. I came across some moire silk today that reminded me of the the pink stays (http://media.vam.ac.uk/media/thira/collection_images/2006AM/2006AM8283_jpg_l.jpg) at the V&A but it was a hideous green :( I want to replicate those stays so bad some day....

[miss-philomena.livejournal.com]

Honestly it's just some scrap linen I'm using for these. They're not meant to be super pretty or anything, and the channels are all machine sewn, because they're for my role as a skilled laborer at the historical site I volunteer at. Though I do plan to do a much nicer set in silk at some later date.

[the-aristocat.livejournal.com]

That phase of making stays is always surprisingly work intensive. But you are almost through! It's looking great!

[miss-philomena.livejournal.com]

If I wasn't bothering to clip and shape the corners it'd go so much faster. But I have too many angled channel ends to not do so. But yes! Almost done with this evil stuff, then on to sewing the pieces together~ And thanks!