All posts tagged: boning patterns

Sewing a set of ill-begotten stays

Some time ago, I decided I needed another pair of stays, and started on a set.  And they’ve been nothing but trouble since then.  They are almost making #4 on  the list of evil things. First there was the fabric.  I bought a bunch of linen with a gilded finish in a fabric sale, because it was soooo pretty, and I’m a magpie. Linen is a great fabric for stays, right?  And who doesn’t want a pair of gilded stays? Linen is not a great fabric for stays if it warps.  And gilded linen is an even worse choice if the minute  you iron it, the gilded finish comes off, leaving you with plain, boring, ecru linen. But I didn’t even get far enough into the stays to find these things out before it gave me problems, because it turns out that gilded linen is actually really, really hard to match for a lining.  So I finally settled for black, because it was really the only thing I had that didn’t look hideous with it. …