Mid-Century Stays in Canvas and Leather

I have a new pair of stays!

Slowly but surely, I finished my mid-18^th century stays. What started out as a sewing binge of foundation garments I wouldn’t need for Costume College '14 turned into me madly tacking on 300 inches of hand-pinked silk trim, and squeezing myself into some pretty ill-fitting old stays for the event. But c’est la vie. I have a better project list this year.

So the canvas stays were put aside very nearly done until I had recovered from CoCo'14.

            These stays diverge from my previous posts in that the boning channels are machined and boned in zip ties. If I ever make another pair, I’ll sew the channels by hand and use reed boning. The fit,  and overall shape are correct (the canvas is cotton and not quite time appropriate, but it has a great weight and strength in a price range I can afford at the moment), so I’m happy with them for now.

Materials:

I used the pattern in Costume Close-up for strapless stays, as I cannot stand tie-on shoulder straps. They always slip off my shoulders and poke out of necklines.

For the material, I used a rough, sturdy canvas. I had some fetch leather binding from Burnley & Trowbridge in my stash that I ended up using.

I cut out two sets of the pattern with a generous Seam Allowance and sewed the boning channels. I then sewed the panels together and whipstitched the seam allowances down. Once that was done, I used large zip ties and boned the entire thing. The eyelets were worked by hand.

After this, I started on the leather binding. I had read a few blog posts on costumers working with leather binding, and was expecting this to be a frustration-fest. I tested out a few different types of needles on the binding, and ended up using a long, thin millinery needle it passed easily through the leather, but would bend if I held it at the wrong angle. It was time consuming, but really worth it.

There was no way that I was going to cover the seams and then bind the stays, as it would have been incredibly thick, so I tacked them on after the binding was in place. 

                A floating linen layer was tacked on at the end.

End Result:

               

                They fit really well! I like the strapless design, and the overall silhouette achieved. I’m trying to get used to the fit of my jackets and striped gown over these, as they compress my bust by three inches and add an inch or two to my waist, whereas my old half-boned stays re-smooshed my shape, but didn't alter my measurements nearly as much.

Thoughts:

                Have you ever sewn with leather? What were your experiences?
                What are your thoughts on boning with zip-ties?

Thanks for reading!

Cheers!

-Meg