cording tutorial

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Dress Diary:

July 2009

Thanks to a broken busk and fabric that was starting to dry-rot (note: using old fabric for stays is not a good idea, fabric does go bad!) I need a new pair of Empire stays. *sigh* If they had to give out at least they did it on the last night of Costume Con27, not the first day!

I've been thoroughly happy with my 1804 stays that were patterned from Jean Hunnisett's Period Costume for Stage & Screen so I'm just going to remake those.

July 14 2009
Dangit, dangit, DANGIT!! Why are these things always so complicated?

I'm working on my new 1804 stays (my old pair having given out at Costume Con) and having a hard time reconciling the pattern in my files with the finished result of my old stays. I LOVE my old stays - they have served me well in fit, comfort and look - so I don't want to deviate from the old pair at all. Just remake them.

Thing is I've tweaked the stays several times over the years, trimming things here & there and even re-making the back panels at one point when they got too big. Did I transfer those changes to my master pattern? No. Did I take good notes of the changes? No. Is this pattern I have in my file even the finial master pattern? I'm beginning to wonder.

Add to that the fact that I made these stays 6 years ago, before I got into good habits of note taking, master pattern tracing and that it was my first use of a scaled pattern and I had NO idea what I was doing... it's amazing the stays came out so well and lasted so long really. Trying to go back 6 years and figure out my own assumptions and sewing methods (since I didn't write them down) is a logistical nightmare.

I do have the old stays to reference but that almost makes it harder. Thanks to gussets and trying to factor in the stretch of the fabric in 6 years... it's making my head hurt. I have a summer cold right now so that probably won't take much but still... Why does this have to be so dang hard!

*whimpers*

July 15 2009
So after some frustrations when I started work on my 1804 stays yesterday, I walked away, took a nap and life didn't seem so bad when I went back to it later in the day. I think I just needed that nap!

I decided life was too short to get so whigged out over a pair stays so I calmly took my filed pattern and the old pair of stays and did my best to reconcile them. Close enough I say! I even cut out the pieces from my fabric... I have lots left over if I made a horrible mistake but really I think it will be okay.

I'm now off to start constructing the stays...

July 15 2009

Considering I didn't work on them for very long I got a lot done on my stays! I'm pretty jazzed with how quickly they are going together - much faster than the first time around. I started with the bust gussets. Taking my "fashion fabric" (a pale chartreuse cotton sateen left over from a Tea gown) I cut along my markings then folded back the fabric and pressed with a steam iron.

I then took the bust gussets and after basting them together (wrong sides together) with my handy basting spray, I marked the seam allowances on them with a washable pencil. I had to pull out my old stays to figure out what the seam allowance was! Apparently I added ½" which seems a little excessive to me now. I would probably make it more like 3/8" next time.

Then starting with the straight side of the gusset, I carefully pinned the gusset to the sateen front, using the blue pencil markings as my guide. Fudging where needed of course. After everything was pinned in nicely, I used the machine to top stitch the gussets in place, stitching as close to the edge as possible and using a small stitch length. I then snipped off the excess point at the bottom of the gusset and trimmed down the sides as needed.

I then took the lining (a white cotton twill) and repeated the process of cutting along my markings, folding back the fabric and pressing with a steam iron. I then laid the lining on top of the sateen (wrong sides together) and after spray basting the bottom of the piece together I carefully lined up the gusset openings, this time using the stitching line as my guide. Once that was all pinned into place I whip-stitched the lining in place along the gores and spray basted the rest.

To stabilize the piece a bit (the spray basting is temporary after all!), I stitched the channel for the busk down the center of the front. After some experimenting (and some ripped out stitches!) I figured out the size channel I needed for my cording and ran two cording channels alongside the busk as well.

I then turned my attention to the hip gussets. The first one was easy, just like the bust gussets. The one that is inserted into the seam though took me a little pondering. Looking at my old stays I don't have the faintest idea how I inserted it last time. So no help there. After a bit of Think-Think-Think, I decided that the easiest thing to do would be to sew the seam together, leaving space for the hip gusset un-stitched. After stitching I ironed the seam allowances open and again using my markings as a guide pinned the gusset in.

After I stitched the gusset in I realized I should have only included the sateen layers in my seam, so I could finish the seams off by folding over the lining and whip stitching down. I did it for the side piece but not the front. Lame! I didn't feel like ripping out all that stitching though so I left it. Like with the lining of the front I spray basted the area around the gusset, then pinned the lining in place and whip stitched it down by hand. So I have half a seam showing there which bugs me a little but not enough to redo that hip gusset!

After finishing the center back edge, I then attached the back piece, seams showing and ironed toward the back. That I did on purpose knowing from experience that if I need to address fitting issues in the future (like weight loss *crosses fingers*) that easiest thing is the remove the back piece and either trim or replace it. I did that at least once on my old stays, one of the reasons they lasted so long! I'll whipstitch that seam down eventually.

So here are my stays as the look now.

July 16 2009
All the channels sewn, all the pesky little threads tied off! *whew* It was the tying of the threads that took f-o-r-e-v-e-r - what a pain. But it's done so now on to cording with hemp

The first channel I tackled was for the bone that sits above the hip gore in the center of the side seam. For stability and to better shape the bust I decided to go with a ½" steel bone here. I used bone casing, because of the seam. I first finished off the end with tiny zig-zag stitches then carefully centering it on the seam stitched it in place.

I continued the stitch (¼" away from the seam) all the way to the bottom of the stays. It finished it from the front and stitched down that pesky seam allowed I kept out by mistake.

Next I turned my attention to the front panel. First I took a clear ruler and drew a line (in washable pencil) about ¼" below the bust gussets. I stitched along that line, and then using my presser foot as a guide (I found the width of my zipper foot was the perfect size for my hemp cording!) I stitched 3 more rows, creating 3 cording channels. I then again took my clear ruler and marked a line ½" below my last stitching line. I then stitched 4 rows, creating 3 cording channels. And so on until I reached the top of my hip gussets.

This worked out nicely as I didn't have to spend hours marking every row and by stopping and marking the occasional line I kept myself straight. The whole thing came out remarkably even and straight!

Once I reached the hip gussets I started stitching vertical channels, filling in all the space between the front busk and the hip gussets again using my presser foot as my guide.

Next came the endless knotting, which took about twice as long as the actual stitching! While I was stitching I generally put in one or two stitches over the line as a safety measure, so after picking those out (so the stitching lined up with either the side seam or the last row of horizontal stitching), I pulled all the threads to the back and began tying them in knots.
Once that was done I took a needle and running it right along the stitching tucked the ends under the fabric.

It's a time consuming thing to do but the result is so pretty! *squee*

For the boning on the side panel I used my old stays as reference to draw on stitching lines with my trusty clear ruler and washable pencil. One boning channel went near the side/front seam and two channels went in the center-ish of the panel. I then stitched those up. For the bones on either side of the side/back seam I simply used my clear presser foot, which gave just the right size for the steel boning I wanted to use there. On the back panel I used a mixture of presser feet and pencil markings to create the combination of channels for the steel boning, hemp cording and eyelets along the center back.

I then soaked my stays in warm water for about 15 minutes to remove the pencil marks. I rolled the stays in a towel to remove the excess water then hung them up to air dry over night. The next morning I used a steam iron to take out the wrinkles and I was ready to insert the cording.

July 22 2009

All the cording is done on my stays - yay! It seemed less difficult/time consuming than I remembered it being last time, which was nice, but it was fiddly and ripped up my hands a bit, not so nice. I'm just glad it's finished.

Actually I didn't take as many pics of this process because I basically followed my own tutorial.

I did discover a few tricks though; one is using the correct tool. This handy awl was the only tool I ended up needing to open & close the holes. It turned out to be just the right size and super efficient to use, which was nice. I got my awl from Jas Townsend & Son but I know other vendors also carry this same awl.

Another trick I learned was you can use your awl to easy the hemp into the hole. Slide your hemp up to the hole opening. Insert awl into the hole, making sure to keep on top of your hemp. Ease the hemp into the hole while pulling the awl out. It's a bit tricky and you need to go slowly to maintain the right amount of tension but it did enable me to use pieces of hemp that I would never have been able to get in otherwise.

Otherwise the cording was pretty straightforward. I used twill as my "lining" this time, as opposed to the quilting muslin I used last time. I was a little concerned that the holes would be difficult to create or the weave would not allow me to close the holes afterwards. I shouldn't have worried - it worked just fine!

Once all the hemp was in, I trimmed the bottom of the stays a bit and ran a basting stitch to hold all the cording in place. Once nice thing about hemp is that you can sew right through it, using a large needle of course. :> I'm going to wait to trim/baste the top until I can try it on but that will have to wait until I can get some eyelets worked. *sigh*

July 31 2009
I am sick. Blah. I almost had some energy this afternoon so I pulled out my 1804 stays with the intention of working on some eyelets. I got as far as moving my bin o' sewing notions to the TV, washing my hands and transferring the steel boning from the old stays to the new, when I discovered that the boning in the back piece is slightly too long for the new stays. *gives stays a dirty look* So I can either order some new bones or simply recut/resew the back piece, making it 3/8" longer.

Not a huge bit deal in the grand scheme of life but it totally killed any inclination I had to be productive for the day. Oh well.

August 2 2009
Still sick. But I did unpick the back panels of my stays. Yay me. Maybe tomorrow I will feel up to cutting out new backs... One day at a time, right?

August 10 2009

The new longer back panel has been sewn in place - yay. Next thing to do? Eyelets

*sigh* What is it about hand sewing eyelets that is so incredibly mind-numbing

I got half the eyelets done on my stays to night. Keeping in mind koshka_the_cat's example, I was trying not to be so anal-retentive about my eyelets this time. They didn't come out as crappy as koshka_the_cat's but I tried, I really did. Perfectionism is a hard rap to beat! :>

Not too shabby, 12 eyelets in 4 hours. What's that about 20 minutes an eyelet? That was with little breaks to rest my eyes/wrists and thaw out my numbed brain too.

November 4 2009
Sadievale's Pumpkin Tea is next weekend so it's time to turn my attention back to my Regency wardrobe. I finished the eyelets on my stays. Now I'm off to sew on the shoulder straps, give it a quick try-on to make sure the length is good and then I can start binding it.

November 6 2009
I tried on my new Regency stays for the first time today. Thats when I discovered that I'd put the shoulder straps on backwards yesterday. That will teach me to forget to mark notches on my patterns!

The other issue with the stays is that some how I made the bust gussests too big. They stick out at the top in an annoying way. It's a really tiny amount of fabric that is doing it though so it's not really worth taking the gussets out and redoing the whole thing so I'm going to cheat and just run some gathering stitches at the bust.

I was originaly going to run a drawstring in the top binding (which is reasonably period) but on further reflection it's just the bust that needs help and that is the easier way to go. If I hate it I can always redo the gussets later.

November 8 2009

Real life and a migraine hit me up-side the head this weekend but I did manage to get the bottom of my stays bound and the gathering stitches put in the bust gores. Yay! I love not dealing with tabs!

I have another headache today so I think I'll leave my other projects aside for now and work on finishing up the stays. Binding requires little brain wattage really.

November 8 2009
My stays are finished - yay! It's really amazing how much faster binding goes when no tabs are involved!

November 15 2009

I'm super pleased with my new pair! They were really comfy and the way they shape my bust is SO much nicer than the original pair. They were even more comfortable to drive in than my old ones - yay! I had another party after the tea, a non-costume event this time, but since my friends didn't care what I was wearing and my outfit was so comfy I didn't bother to change until I got home late that evening!