Stays – Olympe’s Test Stays Complete

I’ve learned SO much while working on these stays, and much shall change in the final pattern.  They’re to be mailed off to Olympe today, for a fitting, and we’ll go from there.

Of course, they don’t fit me (as you can see in the photos), but I want to do a pair that does, which should be a simple matter of scaling up the waist measurement when the final pattern is done.

These stays, once fully completed, will be sold in the American Duchess shop on Etsy.  They’re a prototype, so will be a reduced price of $150.  I’ll post about it when the time comes.

In the meantime, I’m feeling quite accomplished and proud of myself.  /pats self on back.

Now for a couple polls.  I’m looking for the average measurements of readers of the blog, so that I may fashion clothing for you guys in the future:




9 Comments

  • Meg

    September 29, 2010 at 7:39 PM

    Usually I don't like cotton-candy colors, but those stays are sooo pretty!

    @Deborah – you could wear them to a club or some other night life location with a brown or blue shrug. And if you think that's too naked, I've seen women customers in clubs with black undies and lacy hose; bouncers let them in. However that might be a byproduct of living in Los Angeles.

  • Anonymous

    December 29, 2010 at 10:36 AM

    Two questions:
    1. Is the stomacher attached at all or just held in place with the lacing?
    2. How do you work with the rows horizontal bones normally at the top front of this style of stay?
    BTW, your stays are wonderful and an inspiration – I'm about to try making a set for myself by adapting a back closing stay pattern that fits me.

  • Lauren Stowell

    December 29, 2010 at 9:00 PM

    Hi Aylwen –

    The stomacher is not attached at all. It is held in place by the pressure/tension of the lacings.

    I'm not sure I understand the second question. I used horizontal bones across the top of the stomacher, but no horizontal bones in the body of the stays – they are all vertical. I recently read that horizontal bones were used primarily in half-boned stays, and vertical bones were preferred in fully-boned pairs, which is not to say that one way is "right" and the other "wrong." If I were going to do horizontal bones across the front, I would carry them down from the top of the stays to just under the bust and keep the front edges, where the eyelets are, with verticals.

    Let me know if I missed the mark with the second question!

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