The stays are done! THE STAYS ARE DONE!!!

Did I mention the stays are done?  Because they are.  62 eyelets sewn by hand.  ALL DONE!

I mean, sure, I did all of the other stitching by machine, but these eyelets turned out really nice and I'm really happy with the overall effect.  Also, the stays fit perfectly!  Wahoo!

Without further ado, pictures!

Center front eyelets.  Note how they are offset by one inch except for the two at the very top and very bottom.  These are laced the same way in front and back.  One ribbon starts at the bottom and travels up in a spiral, rather than starting with the middle of the lace at the bottom and crossing the two over each other like a shoelace.

Back eyelets, same spiral layout.  Go ahead, click on the pictures and look at them really close up.  I'm damn proud of these eyelets.  

Note that when these are laced up, the edges won't actually be right up against each other like this.  There will be a gap of maybe 1-2" in the back.  The front will wind up more pointed, with the edges forming a "v" rather than lining up to each other.  Once I get the lacing in the back so that it's comfortable, I'll just tie it in place and leave it in, and get the stays on by doing up the front lace myself.  

Here are the shoulder strap and bust peak eyelets.  A shorter ribbon connects these two.

Now I have a question to pose to my esteemed readers.  The question is regarding what color the lacing ribbon should be.  I have seen period and reproduction examples of contrasting ribbons in quite bright colors, as well as plain white or off-white tapes or ribbons.  The reason I am asking is that it is likely that the stays will be seen, if we do in fact go ahead with a "Dressing Abigail Adams" presentation.  There is the argument to be made that sometimes what is most authentic does not actually register as such to the modern eye, so my ideal would be     

I have a grosgrain ribbon in a perfect matching green, but currently not enough of it to lace the whole thing (and my local JoAnn doesn't seem to carry this particular ribbon in this shade).  Here are a few rows of lacing with the green:

I quite like this, although I do think something with more contrast would help visually distinguish it from the stays, and make it easier for people to see the spiral lacing  But it's moot because I don't have enough of it :-(

This is what I'm calling the "homespun" ribbon that I was so excited about, with the little green accents, but...meh, it just doesn't have the same impact I thought it would have.    

 Like, right up close you can see that it has some texture and the little green ribbon accents, but from far away...all I see is shoelaces!!  I'm really disappointed.  Guys, am I wrong???

Here's what I mean about contrast.  The ribbon is distinct from the stays and you can really clearly see how spiral lacing is different from cross lacing.  Eamon says this is the wrong shade of purple (it's a bit darker and more vivid than how it looks in the picture).  He says it takes it into "Renaissance faire" territory.  I get what he's saying.  There are period examples with color combinations like this!  But okay, yeah, maybe Abigail wouldn't be quite so flashy.  Ideally, I'd like to find something complementary but not in-your-face.  Something more muted, but still elegant, like a lighter purple, or kind of a stone blue??  JoAnn's selection is just really not that great.

Side note: that long metal thing is a great little tool called a "bodkin."  It's kind of like an oversized needle - it has an "eye" that you can thread with the ribbon, and the end is just a little ball that pokes through the eyelets.  These eyelets turned out a tad smaller than intended, and this little tool gets through them just fine.

And then there's this.  Plain off-white cord.  I would need to figure out some way to keep the ends from fraying, but it's certainly a period-appropriate choice.  It just...it lacks oomph.  The stays are such a nice brocade I want to do something that has a little pizzazz. 

Anyway, here's a little Eyelet 101.  There's a tool that inserts grommets with what is essentially a hole-puncher for fabric, but that tears the fibers and creates a weak point in the weave.  Instead, you use an awl to gently open a hole between the fibers, stretching them apart.  This maintains the integrity of the fabric, keeping it stronger.  Then you do a first pass of regular stitches with a needle and embroidery thread to start opening up the hole.

I highly doubt that I'm the first to discover this, but I figured out a neat trick that kind of reinforces the edge of the hole while doing the first pass of stitches.  If you keep the "tail" of the embroidery thread an inch or two long, you can hold it off to the left and catch it in the stitches as you go.     

This is the first pass completed, and you can see how I've gone all the way around the hole enclosing the "tail" in each stitch.  After this, you poke through the hole again with the awl to stretch it out and set the stitches.  Then you do a buttonhole stitch all the way around by wrapping the needle with the long thread before pulling it taut.  

I did make a few other accessories today, so that's some more to-dos off the list.  These are structural as well as practical, and I needed them to be done before I could really dive in to making the dress.

This is a hip pad, which is a pretty self-explanatory name.  It looks just a throw pillow for your bum that helps flare out the skirt and give it shape (it creates a less exaggerated silhouette than hoops and paniers).  Sometimes it would be just sort of a crescent shape, but I actually like that this one has sections so that the padding doesn't shift around too much.  The pattern (which came as part of the dress pattern) didn't call for any embellishment, but I was pretty sure I remembered having this length of narrow lace in my stash, and it turned out to be exactly the right amount.  To within eighths of an inch!  I had to pin it several times to get it matched up just so.  It adds a lot, I think.  

Big honkin' pocket, right??  It wasn't until last century that pockets became incorporated into pants and dresses and skirts for women.  It used to be a separate piece that tied around the waist, and was accessed through pocket slits in the petticoat(s) and skirt of the dress.  For modern day re-enactors, it's a great place to stash anachronistic items like cell phones and keys!

It is truly taking a village to get this ensemble together.  Next post will be all of the wonderful things that folks have made, loaned, or given to me to help me save the time!

Staying with the stays

Holy wow.  These stays have taken me so much longer than I thought they would.  But the binding is FINALLY all done (it does need pressing to help smooth out some crinkles here and there).  After a few practice eyelets, I just took the plunge and started poking holes.  I've done four of them so far, and I'm pretty happy with them!  With the wider boning channels, the eyelets are coming out fairly small, so unfortunately I don't think the awesome homespun/green ribbon I got will fit - or if it does, the ribbon will be all folded over itself and the sweet detail won't be visible.  I might just have to get a very narrow grosgrain or something.  Thankfully I can be more flexible with the color so it shouldn't be hard to find something I like (famous last words...)

If the stays have taught me anything, it's that I bit off a lot more than I could chew, so I put out an APB to sewing friends.  But as is so often the case with people who can actually sew, they have their plates full with their own projects for Halloween and other fall/winter costuming events, or they're costuming theater productions!  However, they have all been very generous with offering to lend me costume pieces and accessories, which lowers my sewing load,  and will help immensely with getting everything pulled together in time.  My friend Melissa (she of Dylan Fabrics) recommended a woman to make Ziva's "Nabby" dress, and it will be made from fabric gifted by another friend, who also resized a petticoat of her own for me to wear.  Costuming enthusiasts really look after each other!!

So now...pictures!

 Here's the cotton fabric for Ziva's "Nabby" gown, courtesy of my friend Agnes Gawne.  Isn't it so sweet??  There's blue in the fabric for my gown, so it goes nicely.

And here's the Larkin & Smith Gir's Gown pattern envelope.  The lady making it is going to have to size it down a bit, but she's comfortable doing that.  I delivered this pattern and fabric to her yesterday, and then tonight I discovered there's a Mill Farm pattern that starts at a smaller size.  The Larkin & Smith gets great reviews and came highly recommended, so rather than order that pattern and wait for it to arrive, I'll stick with the Larkin & Smith for this one, and maybe I will give the Mill Farm a try if I need another dress for Ziva in this period.  

Bottom binding done!  This is just one half but they're identical.  This was some fiddly stitching but I'm very proud of myself.

Center back eyelets marked out for spiral lacing.

Center front eyelets marked, also for spiral lacing.

Strap and bust peak eyelets marked (the strap comes over the shoulder and ties with the same ribbon as the front and back lacing).

First eyelet done. First of...62. Deep breaths.

  

A few random updates

This will be a short post, mostly just to show that I have finished stitching the bottom binding down to the front (brocade) side of one half of the stays.  It was really hard getting the binding to play nicely around all of those tabs (especially stitching in the really tight turns), but I started to get a good feel for it about halfway through, so I think the next one will go more quickly.  I am hoping to get the binding turned and stitched down to the coutil side tomorrow, plus the bottom binding on the other half.  Then I will "only" have the eyelets to sew, and I will finally be done with these stays.

In other news, the fabric for Abigail's gown arrived from India!!!  I feel like I should be writing this by hand in a letter rather than a blog post ;-)  I am really, really happy with it.  If you look at the image shown on the eBay auction compared to the pictures I took of it, there's a slight difference in the saturation of the colors, but that's to be expected both with different cameras and lighting and also with block-printing and dyeing by hand.  They also may have used a photo of a different batch of fabric, but they provided full disclosure that variations might occur in the course of the fabric production process.  It was a little nerve-wracking to place the order not really knowing for sure what it would like when it got here, but to me that's part of the thrill of using period-correct fabrics.

eBay auction photo

My camera with flash

My camera without flash

And honestly?  I actually prefer it slightly subdued.  The colors are still nice and bright, and I love love LOVE that it has three (possibly four?) unique colors in the design (which is much closer to extant examples than the monochrome scrolling floral designs you see nowadays).  The best part is that the reds are more pinky/rosy than orangey/red, because I think rosy/pinky reds are better with my complexion.

And because I realized I haven't shared this yet, here's a picture of the pattern I'm using for my gown.  Since I have 10 yards of this fabric (did I mention it was only $5.50/yd??), I'm wondering if it would be overly cutesy to use it for Ziva's "Nabby" dress also.  I'm sure it's historically accurate that if there were enough yardage left over after making mom's gown, it would be made up into clothing for the little ones.  And even if it's not, I think being in the same fabric might help visitors understand that we are portraying a family.  I will have to think about this one.  I don't think I have a whole lot of other options currently in my stash, and I don't want to purchase any more fabric for this project if I can possibly help it.

They're really starting to look like stays!

I didn't get a chance to blog last night so this is two-ish days' worth of work on the stays.  

Although the pork ramen I had on Saturday in Seattle was delicious, it was very fatty, plus I was not drinking enough water throughout the day, and I was up way too late.  The upshot was, I woke up yesterday (Sunday) feeling kind of yucky.  It wasn't awful, not food poisoning or anything, just tummy troubles that could have made it fairly miserable to be at work all day.  So I ended up calling in sick, and I just drank a ton of water and got some more sleep (thank you Eamon for hanging out with Ziva!!) and finally started to feel better.  Eamon and I kind of tag-teamed the rest of the day with Z so he also got to sleep a bit more, and I was able to dedicate some real time to the stays.  It was very productive, except for the part where Ziva decided that I couldn't cut out my fabric until she got a chance to wear it!

She looked very regal, no?

When Her Majesty was done parading around, I got the fronts and backs of the stays cut out.  It was really hard to get my phone to take accurate pictures of the color - it looks darker in the picture above than it actually is, and it looks lighter and more yellow toned in the pictures below than it actually is!!  In any case, I'm pretty pleased with how the pattern came out.  I didn't try to match it up, I just put the pattern piece down over the folded fabric and hoped for the best.  It's not a directional pattern that only works if the fabric is pointing the same way, it's just kind of a nice scrolling design.   

The two fronts placed side by side, and the two backs.  

Slightly more accurate depiction of the color.  It's really hard!

It's always cool when you discover you already have matching thread for a project!!  I might have to get more, with all of those boning channels to sew, but this is a good start!

Here's when I had one half of the corset (coutil and brocade) stitched together along the two sides, turned and pressed.

And here's the whole thing!  The white showing around the edges doesn't matter that much because it's all going to be bound with binding tape (provided I can find a nice match...or I might go with something contrasting depending on what's available).

Here's the same thing turned around to the coutil side.

Slightly closer up showing the red dotted lines (applied with chalk tracing paper) indicating where the boning will go and where the cuts form the tabs at the waist.  If you really look closely you might see a tiny dot at the top of that rounded part, which is where there will be an eyelet. The strap, which will also have an eyelet, will come over from the back and get tied in place with a ribbon or cord.  I'd like to find matching binding and ribbon, if I can.  Oh, and I intend to do the eyelets by hand.

Tomorrow I will stitch the boning channels, and if the cable ties and sandpaper arrive like they're supposed to, I might even get to start inserting them!  That would be over a week of work on the stays, and I will need to move much more quickly than that on everything else if it's all going to be finished by the first week of November.  Motivation, I've got.  But I've always been terrible at just buckling down and working on something until it's done.  I'm always bouncing up and getting distracted by something after completing a step.  I'm just going to have to get better!  

A tiny bit of progress on the stays

Eamon and Ziva and I went over to Seattle for the day to run a bunch of errands around SoDo - I needed to go to a pottery supply store, plus we stopped in at the Tango Zulu in Pioneer Square (that's the store I used to work at in Port Gamble) and we've both been wanting to go to Uwajimaya for a really long time.  It was a successful trip on all counts - Uwajimaya even had calamansi juice, this Filipino citrus drink that we stumbled upon last fall in an Asian market near our apartment in Groton, CT.  We became addicted to the stuff and were really excited to find it.  Yay!!

The only downside was that we didn't get home until almost 8:30, so I didn't get much time to sew.  My trick of putting the heavy books on the stays mockup actually worked, so they were finally mostly flat and I was able to hold up the boned half to myself and get a sense for how well they will fit, and it looked just right.  Because I don't have a lot of time for this project, I decided not to bone the other half and just run with it since the measurements match mine, and instead of just having lacing in the back, I'm altering it slightly to lace in front too, which is very forgiving.  So, tonight I cut out all of the pieces in coutil, and I'm hoping that tomorrow night I will be able to cut out the brocade and start stitching the boning channels.  Ideally, I'd love to have all of that done by Tuesday so that when the cable ties arrive all I have to do is trim them and insert them.  I do need to get a bunch of matching thread and something to use for binding*.  In the period, it looks like the most common material for binding was actually a long thin strip of leather or suede.  I might have to go with regular binding tape just because it will be easiest to find.  I will also need ribbon or cord for tying down the straps and lacing the corset.  The straps are stitched to the back of the stays and come up and over, and there is an eyelet** at the end of the strap and at the top point of the front of the stays where you attach the strap with a ribbon or cord.

Definitions
* Binding - bias-cut fabric, sometimes folded or double-folded, used to cover raw cut edges of fabric.  Sometimes raw edges are hidden by placing the fabric right sides together, stitching almost all the way around, turning and then closing the opening by hand (this is called "bagging").  But for these stays, I'll just be stitching the two fabrics together only at the center back and center front and then adding binding around the entire top raw edge and bottom raw edge.

** Eyelets - nowadays they are usually made with metal grommets that get stamped into the fabric.  But in the period, they were worked by hand.  You punch a hole in the fabric with an awl, which just kind of moves the fibers aside rather than tearing them, and then stitch around the hole to ensure that it doesn't fray.  Stays were not laced extremely tightly in this period - that didn't come until the Victorian era - but eyelets still need to be strong enough so that the stays can form the desired shape.  I do hope to make my eyelets by hand for these stays, but that's a lot of time I'm not sure I have!  Maybe that will be the sort of thing I'll do in between work and Ziva's swim classes, when I'm just sitting in the car with her while she naps :-/