Several years ago I decided to make the best pair of bodies possible in terms of accurate period construction etc. – avoiding real whale bone and hand spun hand woven fabric but using the most appropriate modern materials.
Being a member of the UK Costume Society and also The Costume and Textile Society of Wales gave me access to seminars and people with a lot of advice and experience. I am indebted to all the help and advice from Jill Salen who encouraged me and was a source of inspiration. After I had decided on the project The Costume Society held a very useful Symposium on underwear including an extra day with Ian Chipperfield, the Staymaker and a lecturer from the London College of Fashion, which I attended with added interest.
One of the main problems I had was finding appropriate boning. I wanted fine boning similar to the boning as shown in the V&A book Costume in detail 17th and 18th century. But it needed to be strong enough to correctly hold me in shape. Jill gave me a few contact details but it was the London College of Fashion’s technique of folding plastic boning in half lengthways that gave me the boning which was narrow but strong; stronger than normal boning, which I recommend.
Jill advised me that red edge linen was the correct linen and Whalleys of Bradford was able to supply it. I had a piece of pink silk which I wanted to use as the top cover. I was content that the style of the original stays was ok as it was from a Janet Arnold book and used a pattern I had prepared before.
I had noticed that all the early stays seemed to be bound at the edge, generally in a contrasting colour and it was that fact which lead me to the most extreme change in my sewing technique. Instead of making a lining and a top part and sewing them together by bagging out, I cut out the lining, two layers of the red edge linen and one layer of the pink silk and placed them on top of each other – both slightly bigger than the pattern required in case of shrinkage due to the boning process.
Tacking the layers together I sewed boning channels in a simple running stitch in white silk thread. After making the channels I inserted the boning and busk between the two layers of linen and sewed up the pieces, keeping them in layers. After making the bodies into one piece I then prepared several metres of bias binding in grey silk.
I checked the bodies for fit and cut the layers into the right size, then I used the bias binding to cover the edges which also keeps all the layers as one.
I made eyelets holes centre back, as it was a back lacing pair of bodies, and for the shoulder straps using whip stitch. With a lucet I made lacing cord using perle cotton with silver coloured tags.
I was quite pleased with the results of the project and was happy to wear them until I put on too much weight to get into them and now use them as an example of underwear when talking to the public and re-enactors interested in the foundation garments of the 17th century.
Of course I forgot to take photographs of the construction but my husband has taken some costume in detail photographs for me. Hover over the picture to pause the slide show.
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Since the project I have learnt more about the construction of 17th century clothing and that will be part of my next article.
Bibliography:
Patterns of Fashion III Janet Arnold
Corsets and Crinolines Norah Waugh
Cut of women’s clothes Norah Waugh
Costume in detail 17th and 18th century Avril Hart and Susan North.
Patterns for Stage and Screen Jean Hunnisett
The construction was of rib and stockinet although the top of the purse was unusual in that I had to cast on 6 stitches then make a chain of 7 stitches with a crochet hook, this is repeated 14 times. The crochet was a little fiddly but after the cast on row the knitting was straight forward. Richard Rutt gives the rib to be 2 knit and 2 purl for 5 centimetres; the Scottish Antiquaries gives 2 knit and 3 purl for 5 centimetres
shape which author Jane Ashelford believes
It was easy to tell the status of a person by the clothes they wore. The richer you were; the better fitted, brighter coloured and more decorative were the clothes you and your family wore. This extended to any servants you had. Clothes were part of servants pay, a well favoured servant could also expect to receive presents of cast off clothes from master or mistress, to be worn or sold on. The second hand market for clothing dressed the poorer in society and helped to finance the fashions of the aspiring rich.
Although British artists based in Britain, provide excellent reference material, there were not many of them. European artists can be used for research. However social conditions were different and this is reflected in the national costume. Countries close to Britain would have shared similar fashions. French fashions influenced the British Court. The English middle classes had strong trading links with Holland. The Dutch were mainly Protestant with a powerful merchant class, their clothes appear to be similar to that worn by British people of similar status. The wealthy spent some of that wealth on ornamenting their houses with portraits of themselves, their families and more importantly, for this article, their servants. The servants were probably in their best clothes, as were the bourgeoisie but the differences in the clothes gives an indication of how they were worn. Which is why Dutch Old Masters can be used as reference material.
Contemporary written evidence is useful, commentaries of important events often recorded the clothes worn, Samuel’s Peyps would describe in detail clothing worn by himself and those around him, in his diaries, sadly written after the Civil War period and therefore not contemporary . Wills written at this time record clothing, because it was a valuable asset. Finding contemporary writing is not always easy, neither is reading the writing. Translations and interpretations by modern authors can be useful, especially by fellow enthusiasts, published and found on traders row – caveat emptor.
Collars/Kercheifs A large square of linen, folded diagonally and pinned or tied about the neck was worn, especially by labouring women. By covering the back of the neck heat is kept in when cold and sunstroke avoided when warm. The kerchief also covers the décolletage modestly, 17th century women did not invite lewd behaviour. Wait until the beer tent to show off your cleavage and avoid the infamous ‘SK tan’ markings.
