A Prototype of My 1830's Stays

Ah, my first corseting venture outside the 1850-1870 time frame.  It was an interesting experience but it is now over and I learned a lot.   Next time, I'm going to have a much easier time.

Previous posts in the 1830's series:
Introduction
1830's Shifts
1830's Petticoats
1830's Bustle
1830's Bonnet

And now we're at the stays.  I always swore I wouldn't do any era without a front opening corset busk but here we are.  And honestly, it's not so bad.  I can still dress myself.  It just takes a little know how.

Looking at original stays, I was a little concerned.  They were so... long.  With narrow hips.  My hips are anything but narrow! I have a natural 15" hip spring (the difference between waist measurement and hip measurement) and a 20" corseted hip spring.  How on earth was anything that would fit my waist even go over my hips??

Unknown collection, 1830's

Kent State University Museum, 1830's

Los Angeles County Museum, 1830's-1840's

Seriously.  There was no way my body was going to do that.  However, looking at paintings and drawings, one can clearly see a defined hip spring in several individuals.

Le matin by Numa Bassaget (1830)

Unknown collection, unknown date

The Stay-lace, engraved by Alfred Leon Lemercier, 1830's

That gave me hope that I could possibly achieve this look with my body.

I really wanted a Redthreaded pattern but as my hips, waist, and bust are all vastly different sizes on their charts, I would have to purchase 3 patterns at $20/pattern to get it to work for me as Redthreaded sells individually sized patterns.  That wasn't quite worth it. I ended up purchasing the Past Patterns 1830's corset pattern.

The pattern maker mentioned that coutil wasn't used for corsets yet in the 1830's which was a nice little note as I was planning on purchasing coutil.  I took one of the pattern's suggestions and purchased white cotton sateen for $9/yard (including shipping).  I also bought some size 00 grommets from Gold Star Tools at the suggestion of Mrs. Clark of the Sewing Academy and her blog post on corsetry supplies.  My pattern mentioned that metal grommets were patented in 1823 and that either metal or hand sewn are appropriate for the 1830's.  I opted for metal.

I used more cotton sateen to line my corset and the boning is a mixture of German plastic whalebone and cording.  There is, however, a strip of metal boning on either side of the grommets for more stability in the back.  In the front, there is a pocket for a wooden busk, which my dad ended up making for me.  I can leave it in or take it out if I'm doing more manual labor and need more freedom of motion.

The laces are just shoelaces from Walmart.  I meant to do spiral lacing but forgot to offset the grommets when putting them in.  My next plan was fan lacing but that was not cooperating.  This was the only version of lacing that worked with this corset.

Unfortunately even though I took very detailed measurements the corset turned out about 2-3 sizes too large.  It meets in the back and isn't quite tight enough for my liking.  I took in 2" at the sides to make it fit a little better. I made the entire corset by machine as I really didn't want to do all that work and not know if it fit or not.  Now that I know what to do to make it fit, the next corset will be hand done.

Enjoy!