You’ve chosen your materials, made buckram, now it’s time to make a mock-up of the Cassandra Stays to make sure that you get the perfect fit with your final pair!
It seems like a lot of effort, but making a full mock-up is so important for getting a good fit with your final stays. To be a successful mock up it needs to be as complete as possible: fully boned, in fabric that behaves as much as possible like your final fabric.
The good news is that making a mock-up lets you test some of the final techniques, which will make the actual stays go faster!
The other good news is that you can re-use your bones from your mock-up in your final stays.
Making a Mock-Up
Before you begin your mock-up, make any initial alterations you are sure you will need: lengthen/shorten adjustments etc.
Cut out your pattern pieces. Be sure to use fabrics that act in a similar way to the fashion fabric you plan on using: linens and wools will have more ‘give’, taffetas will have almost none.
I’m making my mock up in two layers of cotton canvas. This should have a similar weight and amount of give to the linen damask, linen, and buckram my final stays will be in.
I cut out all my pieces, and transferred only the guide boning lines (marked in black on your pattern pieces) to my fabric:
I can then use these guide lines to create all the rest of the boning channels. Each line of stitching is sewn out an even distance from the previous line.
Before I’m ready to insert bones I need to sew lines of stitching that mark the seam allowances on each side of each stay panel. You can also do this before sewing your boning channels.
Then it’s grommet time. Insert grommets in to the front (if doing View B) and back of the stays. I find old packets of grommets at op shops fairly regularly, so that’s what I use for grommets in my toiles. It’s cheaper than using nice ones. I’m going to recycle the back panels of my Cassandra toile to be lacing panels for future stays/corsets, so I’ve overlocked the edge of the fabric.
With all my boning channels sewn, seam allowances marked, and grommets inserted, it’s time to cut and insert the boning. If you think there’s any chance that you might need to lengthen your stays you can cut each bone a little longer than the channel.
If your boning makes each panel very curvy you can use the directions on ironing bones in the pattern to gently ease out the curve.
Then, right sides together, matching the waist notches and working up, pin and sew the panels together. Use the seam allowance lines that you sewed to guide you. You may find it easier to remove the bones closest to the seam in order to sew.
The re-launch of Rate the Dress came at the same time as the launch of the Cassandra Stays, and this week’s Rate the Dress is interrupting the Cassandra Stays Sew-Along, so I think it’s only fitting that I do a Rate the Dress featuring a garment that could be worn over the Cassandra Stays!
Ooof, a very mixed bag of reactions to last week’s Rate the Dress! Everything from a perfect 10 to a devastatingly low 3! Most of you liked the dress…except, that is, for the back collar. But others felt that there were too many discordant details, and rated it accordingly.
The Total: 7.7 out of 10
Better than last week, but with a greater spread of ratings.
This week: the Marchesa a la modé in puce and coral
Looking back over Rate the Dress, portraits to be rated do not attract as many comments as extant garments. They do, however, sometimes attract more interesting and in-depth comments, so I’m hoping that will be the case this week.*
This week I present The Marchesa Margherita in a very fashionable late 1770s ensemble.
Portrait of the Marchesa Margherita Sparapani Gentili Boccapaduli by Laurent Pécheux, 1777, Palazzo Braschi
I found two different versions of the Italian aristocrat’s portrait: one darker and more muted, and another bright and clear, with every detail visible, from her butterfly collection, to her Egyptomania table, to her goldfish bowl. The portrait is intended to show off the Marchesa’s knowledge and interests, attributes that made her a famed salonière, as much as her looks or fashionable dress.
Portrait of the Marchesa Margherita Sparapani Gentili Boccapaduli by Laurent Pécheux, 1777, Palazzo Braschi
And her dress is very fashionable. Extremely a la modé for 1777. The Marchesa wears a petticoat in dark puce, trimmed with a flat ruffle of vivid coral around the hem. The colours of her petticoat are reversed in her upper garments: a polonaise with cutaway, buttoned front, bustled skirt, and hood. Narrow flat ruched puce trimming frames the hood, front of the cutaway, and the skirt. The sleeves are edged with deep cuffs of ruched puce silk.
Portrait of the Marchesa Margherita Sparapani Gentili Boccapaduli by Laurent Pécheux, 1777, Palazzo Braschi
The whole ensemble is finished with lace frills at cuffs and down the neckline, and a fashionably high hairdo topped with a pearl and feather trimmed turban. Her shoes are in coral to match the ensemble and balance the coral bodice and overskirt. She wears no jewellery other than matching clips at the bottom of her bodice, which features the shallow round dipped waist that was in vogue in the late 1770s.
The contrasting colours and reversed petticoat and upper colour scheme were very fashionable in this period, but there aren’t that many surviving examples of the style, so it’s wonderful to see a portrait that demonstrates the look so clearly, with all the styling and accoutrements.
So, what do you think of this distinctly 1777 moment in fashion history? Does the Marchesa’s dress match her curious mind and vivacious personality, or should she have gone for a more timeless look?
Rate the Dress on a Scale of 1 to 10
A reminder about rating — feel free to be critical if you don’t like a thing, but make sure that your comments aren’t actually insulting to those who do like a garment. Phrase criticism as your opinion, rather than a flat fact. Our different tastes are what make Rate the Dress so interesting. It’s no fun when a comment implies that anyone who doesn’t agree with it, or who would wear a garment, is totally lacking in taste.
As usual, nothing more complicated than a .5. I also hugely appreciate it if you only do one rating, and set it on a line at the very end of your comment.
*not that your comments haven’t been interesting and in-depth, I just think quite a lot could be said about the clothes in this portrait!
Both worked, but I wasn’t 100% happy with either – tragacanth was only available in pre-mixed form in NZ at the time, and thus prohibitively expensive. It also smelled to high heaven. Xanthan gum, whilst cheap, wasn’t accurate and doesn’t have the fabric-nibbling-creepy-crawly-retardant qualities of tragacanth.
So I read every source I could find on 18th century gums, and buckram making. Garsault’s 1767 L’Art du Tailleur describes buckram as:
‘Bougran est fait de vieux draps de lit ou de vieille toile à voile gommés’;’
‘buckram is made from old sheets or old gummed canvas’ (according to my very poor French) and;
Bougran ou Treillis : toile de chanvre gommée & calendrée’;
‘Buckram or Trellis: gummed and calendered hemp canvas’.
Other sources mention gum, paste, starch, or glue. So any product called by those names in the 18th century is plausible as a buckram stiffener. I pondered whether I was game enough to try to make rabbit-skin glue. Then realised that what might be the perfect solution was right in front of my face: gum arabic!
Gum arabic has been used since antiquity as a binder and paint and textile printing. It was certainly in use in Europe in the 18th century. After the slave trade, the gum arabic trade was the leading drivers of French and British colonisation in West Africa in the 18th century.
It was primarily used as a binder for fabric printing, so we have both documentation of its use in Europe in the 18th century, and documentation that it was used on fabric. So using gum arabic to make buckram is very plausible as an 18th century option for buckram making.
Gum arabic was certainly being used as a starch and stiffener in the mid-19th century. The House Book: or A Manual of Domestic Economy gives instructions on making gum arabic starch, and on using it to starch dresses, lace, and veils, amongst other things. (note that the book frequently calls it gum arable water)
How to make buckram with gum arabic
Source your gum arabic powder.
It’s also called acacia gum or acacia Senegal gum, because it comes from the gum of the acacia tree. You can get it from specialty food stores as well as makeup/cosmetic supply stores, and it’s widely available on the internet. It’s available in both food safe varieties, and not food safe varieties. The later is usually cheaper. Since you’re not using it for food, non-food safe is just fine. It may have a few impurities or be a little courser than the food-safe option, that’s not a problem.
You’ll find that there are also pre-mixed bottles of gum arabic available from art stores: avoid these. They are very expensive, and you won’t be able to control how much stiffness they creates.
Proportions:
I find that 1 tablespoon of gum arabic powder per 100ml of water is perfect for making a nice stiff buckram, but your proportions will vary slightly based on your powder, and the fabric you’re applying it too.
If 1T to 100ml is too thick you can always add more water, if too thin you can always add more powder.
Mixing:
Add your gum arabic powder to cold water. Adding it to hot will melt the outside layer of powder, forming a skin around the inside clump of powder so it doesn’t dissolve nicely.
Mix thoroughly to dissolve, and then bring your water to a boil, stirring all the while. You can do this over the stove, or by microwaving it multiple times, bringing it out and stirring it in between.
Once your water is hot, it should thicken slightly, but will still be very liquid. It will not as thick and goopy as bought gum tragacanth will be.
Gumming your fabric:
Have your clean, dry, pre-washed linen fabric read to go. Use plastic sheeting under it to protect your working surface and avoid staining.
Spread out your fabric and paint on your gum arabic solution!
Let it dry until it is just the tiniest bit tacky. I use a hanging rack with an old cloth underneath to collect the drips.
When it’s almost dry, take it off and press it with an iron. Use an ironing cloth to avoid getting gum on your iron.
Pressing it will make your buckram nice and smooth, and lock the gum to the fabric. If you let your gum get totally dry just spritz the buckram with a little water.
Ready to press:
All pressed and nice:
And here it is done:
Comparing buckram made with gum arabic, gum tragacanth, and xanthan gum:
And how do the three different types of gum work? Here’s a comparison:
Cost:
Gum arabic was actually the cheapest, at NZ$13 for 100g (buckram for approx 10 pairs of stays – $1.30 per pair), compared to NZ$22 for the same amount of xanthan (buckram for approx 15 pairs of stays – $1.50 per pair), and NZ$27 for gum tragacanth powder (now available in NZ, I’m so excited! I’ll be trying that next) (buckram for approximately 15 pairs of stays – $1.80 per pair) or NZ $34 for a tiny bottle that would only do one pair – (($34 per pair!))
Seriously, this bottle was $34:
However, I was able to get xanthan gum at a local grocery store, but had to pay approx $6 shipping each on the others, so their actual cost per pair is a little higher.
Stiffness:
All three had similar stiffnessess, but it was easiest to get the exact stiffness I required with gum arabia.
Pre-mixed gum tragacanth was the least effective stiffener, but only by a hair.
It would probably be equally easy to get the exact stiffness required from powdered tragacanth.
Durability:
I will report back on how each of these last as they age and wear.
The science says that gum arabic and gum tragacanth should last better, as they penetrate the fabric more, and have antibacterial and anti-mould qualities.
Gum tragacanth may be slightly better at resisting moisture than gum arabic, and thus last longer in a situation where it is exposed to body heat and humidity (as in stays).
Shrinkage:
Some people have reported shrinkage when making linen buckram, so I needed to test that to see if it is safe to pre-cut your linen pieces, and then apply gum to turn them into buckram.
My samples above were cut as 20cm squares, and 20x10cm rectangles, so I could test if there was any shrinkage after applying and drying the different gums.
There was 0% shrinkage in any of my samples, but the very lightweight linen experienced some warping because the pressure of brushing the gum on pushed the fabric out of shape. I was able to return them to their exact shape with ironing.
My conclusion is that shrinkage is uncommon on pure linen, but to be safest its best to pre-treat your whole piece of fabric, and then cut your pieces once your buckram is totally dried and set.
Historical Accuracy:
Gum tragacanth is fully documented, gum arabic is totally probably but not absolutely documented for staymaking, and xanthan gum is a 20th century invention, so absolutely not accurate.
So which gum works best for buckram making?
I would say that powdered gum tragacanth is the best choice, by the tiniest possible margin, because it has less of a chance of softening from body moisture. However, gum arabic is so close behind that it is a totally acceptable choice if powdered gum tragacanth is not available.
Now, go forth and make buckram, so we can make stays!
