A Visit to the Museum Of London

This isn't exactly what my blog is about, but it was so exciting that i wanted to share! -

Last Tuesday I was lucky enough to visit the Museum Of London’s Costume Archive to see some stays from the 1700’s. It was incredible to be able to hold something that I have only seen in paintings and photographs; I could almost feel the stories sewn into each whalebone channel!!

Aside from getting all gooey about the history, it was great to be able to see how something like this was constructed, and understand how it shaped the body. One of the most striking things was the condition of the stays, obviously worn but still so intact, owing to the workman ship involved in the construction.

One of the most valuable sights was to see inside the corset, where the lining was coming away. I was able to identify the construction process and techniques, such as the way the seams were hand sewn and how the whalebone was encased. You can see in the photo how the outer fabric has been backed onto buckram for support, and even how it has been stitched.

What I found most interesting was the size of the stays. I presumed that the heavily boned bodices of this era would be very tight fitting, but actually this wasn’t the case. The stays are laced close fitting to the body, to support the tummy and push up the breasts, but not laced as tightly as the later Victorian or Edwardian Corsets. The Stays provide a rigid frame on which to tailor the outer garments, such as the polonaise dresses of the period.

The image on the right is a polonaise dress of the period, you can see the size of the waist in stays, compared to my hand: not particularly small! However the full skirts, wide shoulders and seams all add to a cleaver illusion.  
(Thanks to Rosie for organizing this visit and asking me along!)