MLS Designs

To celebrate my stays being finally finished (for now, lining comes later) I decided to whip out a quick project, and a banyan for elegant lounging seemed like the next logical step after stays, more underwear!
This banyan is definitely an odd little thing, it's a real stash buster, and is rather ghetto fabulous ;) I had a 2.5yd length of Indian block printed cotton I bought ages ago intending to make a jacket for Mummy, it's very fine though, more like a muslin or lawn than the first fabric I bought from them, which was more of a quilting weight. So, completely unsuitable for a jacket, and the print isn't really suitable for anything other than 18thC, so it needed a home. I also had the remains of a length of supposedly linen with an open-work stripe, that is far too shiny to be 100% linen and definitely has some dead dino content! The 2 together seemed perfect.
With 2.5yds I had just enough length to make a longish garment, although not quite as long as I'd have liked, and by making the cuffs from the linen, I had just enough width to make elbow length sleeves, again, not as long as I'd like. I loosely based it on this ladies banyan from the V&A http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O85965/banyan-garthwaite-anna-maria/ I shaped it with a pleat running over each shoulder down to the waist at the front and the back, and a small inverted box pleat at the centre back. To get a bit more width at the hem I small godets cut from the waste from the underarm shaping.





It's all machine sewn, except the hems (which I'll do on my lunch break tomorrow), I even stitched the pleats down by machine, although, I'm debating redoing them by hand. I'm finding it hard to reconcile myself to the idea of visible machine stitches on anything in my 18thC wardrobe. I know I shouldn't bother, the lining is so obviously poly, and I'm never going to wear it to a reenactment in front of the public, but...

Hooray! I don't have to take them apart! I get to sew the leather now .... yay?

My boning channels are all sewn and the reeds are all in! Remember how my reed never came, then I emailed her and she said she'd send me a few lengths to be a size guide? well, the 'few lengths' she sent seem more like half a roll, so I had plenty to bone (reed?!) my stays :D
I got so much done yesterday. I finished the panel I started on Monday, and did another panel and started the first front on the bus on the way home. Last night when I went to bed I only had one and a half channels left on the first front! I'm amazed at how quickly I'm getting through these stays :) although, I have a feeling I'll slow right down when I start binding!
I'm now about to start the eyelets. Why did I decide it would be a great idea to have them open in the front AND the back!??!

This Christmas has been crazy! we've been so busy nearly every day ever since I finished school, in some ways I'm actually looking forward to school starting again so things can calm down a little!
I finally finished the last of my Christmas presents on Christmas Eve, and since then I've been doing things for our Georgian evening party (which was on the 27th) and I made a couple of modern skirts too, but today I was able to get started on my new stays :)
I ordered the reed and canvas for interlining ages ago, and the fabric came before Christmas, but no reed :( there was a note on the packing slip saying it was 'to follow' with no note as to how long that would be! I got very cross and wrote a snotty email, to which I had a very nice reply saying their reed supplier had just retired and that they hadn't yet emailed me because they were nursing a sick relative. Kind of hard to be cross, but I'm still grumpy it's not here yet! So, she's sending me a few lengths to use to plan the width of my boning channels, and the rest when it comes in from the new supplier.
Anyway, I was able to do my mock up today, using the stays pattern from Costume Closeup and some cardboard from the box a vacuum cleaner came in ;) I think I've got the fit right - I wore them to eat lunch and then try on some of my old costumes, and they were still very comfy, (but need a little length taking off the top edge). The only problem is, they make my waist about 2-3 inches lower than my old one, which means all my petticoats are too long, and my jackets are too short :( I think it's because my old stays are boned with steel, which doesn't have much give, so they couldn't bend over my hips properly, so instead flared out too high up, whereas the cardboard bends right where it needs to. I'm hoping that the reed will work in the same way, from what I gather from looking at all your stays it should. Anyway, here are some pictures!



I'm changing the angle of the centre front a little, making them smaller in the waist and bigger in the bust. After lots of to-ing and fro-ing I've decided to make them lace at the front and back. While I can lace myself into my back opening stays, it's quite a struggle sometimes, especially in a tent, and as I want to do more reenacting next year, and Mummy won't always be there, that's a definite issue!

I'm thinking I want to make them half boned, I'm planning to sew them by hand, and do not relish the idea of doing so many channels! so hopefully they won't stand up quite so well on their own as the cardboard ones do, otherwise I have no idea how I'll ever be able to pack them!!!!



I tried my blue and white pierrot jacket on over the cardboard stays, and it was horrifying :( the jacket wound up quite short waisted because of the problems I had lining up the stripes, and while that was not too bad with my old stays, these new longer waisted ones were quite dreadful. Then I tried on the new short gown that I haven't quite finished yet, and it too was far too short in the waist, but at least I can fix that, it's just a case of redoing the side seams with a lower waist and stitching the pleats down for a few more inches. By this time though I was terrified that all my clothes would be useless with the new stays, and not only would I have to make an entirely new wardrobe, but I'd never be able to wear my gorgeous sacks again. So I rushed upstairs to try on my spotted sack from last spring. Luckily, it's ok! the petticoat is too long and shows 3" below the gown skirts, but I never got round to finishing the top edge, so it's just a case of taking the waist-bands off and moving them down. Luckily because of all the waist-bands and ties round my waist, the slightly too short waist isn't really noticeable, and the fact my waist is a little bigger and my bust a little smaller in the new stays doesn't matter because of the ties in the back lining. So relieved!!!
Now I need to wait for the reed though, because until it's here I won't know how many layers to make them from. I'm using very pale pink linen for the outer layer, with canvas for strength and a loose linen lining, but I don't know if I need to use 2 layers of the canvas, or if the linen is strong enough on its own, nor if the reed will show through the pale linen and make it look funny. So I thought I'd do something else while I wait, something that doesn't need to fit! so either a cloak or a banyan I think :D

Well, with the stays at least :) Today was a bit frustrating though, I had loads of tidying to do after Christmas and New Year, and I've had a rotten cold since Christmas so it all piled up till there was so much to do today :( BUT I got it done, and I baked as a reward. Chocolate brownies and cupcakes, but the frosting for the cupcakes turned out a bit strange tasting? Oh well, they're not BAD just odd :)
So now I can get started on the mock-up for my gown! Since Mummy has decided she likes being a boy I'm going to use the dark red ribbed silk I got to make her a dress for mine! I'm planning to make an en forreau back, and not too frilly, because I also have plans for a sacque back which will be very frilly, and I want them to be as different in style as possible. So a box pleated frill on the petticoat and box pleated serpentine with the silver braid twining the other way on the skirts. I'm not sure how I want it to fasten, centre front or with a stomacher, or maybe a compere front, I love those :)
But first I have work tomorrow, and friends in the afternoon then my best friend is spending the night, so not much sewing for a while I think! Pooh, I wish it was the holiday still :(

I got out all my 18th Century stuff, and tried it all on, as predicted, nothing fits the way it did, BUT, for once it's a good thing, they seem to fit better! Once I got Clare out of bed (it was lunch time!) she helped me pin out darts on the shoulder straps to bring them up onto my shoulders properly, and there was a lot to take out! I've since redone one strap and fixed all the poking bones on that side, and put the binding back on, the other side still needs doing, I should have got so much more done today, but at least I did something!