Chemise a la Reine Plans

I still haven't finished binding my stays after several months oops. Currently, I'm focused on making a chemise a la reine. I was planning on making the usual white dress until I saw this self-portrait by my favorite painter Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun.

I love how it's an unexpected take on the chemise gown. I also love the red sash. For my own, I don't think I would include the collar though.

I found several more pictures of a black chemise a la reine, which are on a Pinterest board which can be found here.

I'm planning on using a pattern by Laughing Moon (here) with fitted sleeves. Now I need to find fabric!

Lucy Locket Lost Her Pocket

Since binding sucks, I decided to take a break from it and make a pocket. I have the J.P. Ryan Women's Basic Clothing Pattern (found here) but it includes quite a large pocket. Using the same general shape, I made a smaller pattern.

I traced the pattern onto some extra duck I had from my stays. J.P. Ryan suggests linen but since a pocket isn't seen I didn't really care about the fabric choice.

Wrong side on the outside :(

I cut a slit in on side of the fabric and sewed the edges of the slit down. I then sewed both pieces of the pocket together and turned it right-side out through the pocket slit.

That's when I realized I had forgot to put right sides together and what was technically the inside of the slitted-pocket was now on the outside... I didn't want to unpick all the stitches though, so I decided to cover the mistake with extra binding from the stays I was working on.


The only problem with adding the binding was I couldn't get it to curve neatly around the bottom part of the slit. I decided to add a bow to the very bottom to cover this up. I took the bow off a Christmas gift bag, so it's not the nicest looking, but it will do for now.

Don't do this.

Now I just needed to add the ties. I first tried using some 3/4 inch twill tape and some heavy duty red thread. This did not work. The tape tore off after I tried it on.

Do this.

Onto plan B. I decided to use two strips of ribbon left over from cutting out a chemise. I folded them lengthwise twice and then sewed it down into a strip. I then sewed this onto the pocket around three sides of the strip, instead of just one like I did previously. It seems pretty strong and looks a lot better than it did before. I don't really like how the tape is white and the pocket is brown, but oh well.

The pocket is the perfect size for a few modern-day essentials and fits my phone perfectly. I'd love to eventually learn how to embroider a pocket, but for now, this will do.

Pocket worn with unfinished stays. :)

Adding the Bones

After researching the best types of boning, I decided to use cable ties. Whale bone was obviously out, and I didn't want to have to order boning online and wait a long time. Joann's doesn't have much for a historical sewer.

Enter the Home Depot. I got one bag of 36 inch cable ties. It ended up being the perfect amount for my stays. I had exactly zero leftovers.

I cut the ties to the right size and then used sand paper to round the edges. It took quite a while and I got a few blisters, but I'm glad I used cable ties. They're very light but also hold their shape well when there's a bunch of them together. 

A just cut bone on the bottom and a smoothed bone on the top.

The stays with all the boning

Stay-ing Alive Sewing My First Pair of Stays

My first post! A little background about me; I am a high school Senior and I don't have very much sewing experience. Basically, don't do anything that I do because I am just guessing through this whole process.

So for my first pair of stays, I decided to use a pattern by J.P. Ryan (found here). I made a mockup at first, but it had no boning, eyelets, and the wrong seam allowances. I decided to go ahead and make the stays as is anyway. Was this a bad idea? Probably.

For the fabric, I decided to use a cream duck for the interfacing and red duck for the outside fabric. I debated with myself over having the red being the front or the cream. Cream would be easier to wear under things but the red was so pretty. I decided on using the red. I cut out all the pattern pieces and sewed them with the correct seam allowances this time.

This is the the two front pieces of the stays sewn together.

And then the seam in the back gets pressed open.

All the interfacing and front pieces sewn together.

At this point I was really proud of myself and thinking "omg these stays are so pretty!" Also, I hadn't taken me very long to sew and was easy. Past me was so naive. 

Now I had to sew the boning channels. I discovered I cannot sew in a straight line to save my life. Yay.

The first few boning channels (on the right) were actually pretty good. And then I somehow began sewing like a drunk person and had to unpick so many rows. Also, my sewing machine kept making balls of thread at the very beginning of the rows, which was very annoying.

One piece done! So many more to go... 

Sorry this picture is upside-down. I can't figure out how to rotate it on Blogger and I don't have Photoshop on the computer I am currently using. 

But yay the boning channels of doom are finished!

Next up: adding the actual boning!