Jenny La Fleur

The stays are now wearable, yay!


I like the fit, the third row of horizontal boning does make some difference. It makes my bust more flat and yet more round. Very late 1770s. Someday I will get the binding on (and take better pics for y'all) but for now I'm skipping straight to the fun stuff - the frocks!


Yesterday I laced myself up and tried on the Queen of the Night toile I worked on last fall. I remembered it looking pretty good but stopped work on it until I had new stays (just in case they fit differently). The toile needed some slight tweaks but nothing major. I mostly re-drew the neckline, the "zone" shape and the center front point (having changed my mind about those shapes). A little trimming around the armsycle and that was about it.

Suddenly I was done and like ready to cut out something out. Wow! I'm so glad I put in some work on this a couple of months ago, even without new stays. It's going to make my life so much easier now. I’m now feeling quite lighthearted and optimistic about finishing my CC27 line-up, especially since I can use this pattern as the base for my Pimpernel revamp and the Fort Fred outfit. So three patterns in one. Whoo hoo!

So I spent the rest of my sewing time tracing off the master patterns for the queen of the night. Today I'm going to cut out the fashion fabric this morning and then work on tweaking the pattern for the Pimpernel. Can I get two frocks cut out today? Stay tuned for our next episode... err post. :>


Ahh yes and here are some pics of the construction of the stays which I haven't posted before...

My stays are done!

Well not really. I still have all the binding to do, but they are in wearable, toile fitting condition. You know what that means - I can finally actually get to work on my CC27 frocks. Yes! Not more being tortured by your foufy polonaise trimming posts - I can work on mine too!

So I only have a month and 3 frocks to make. I'm not crazy, not at all.

Today I'm being a good girl, labeling and sorting patterns I've been throwing in the bin, working on some commissions due this week and cleaning out my pending bin. Little things like that modern skirt I've had ready to be hemmed for 3 months and the sash I cut out of leftover black striped fabric for random 18th century use, a sweater that needed mending. That sort of thing. Just clearing space for the madness that will be CC27 sewing.

Life is very busy right now. Busy in a good way but still busy. So my sewing has been very piecemeal, an hour here, 20 minutes there - whenever I can squeeze it in. I'm getting stuff done, I'm even taking pics - I'm just not posting. Moo.


So stays progress. My fabric came in and I liked the bright blue linen best out of my choices. So blue it is, with bright yellow binding. Very Technicolor. Hee. Once the fabric was washed and pressed, I laid out the interlining pieces and cut (the blue will be my front and lining).


Next up, the boning. I used this tool from sadievale's dad's workbench. We aren't sure what it is exactly but it cuts the cable ties like butter - much easier than my old Navy issue scissors! After the pieces were cut I rounded off the edges with sandpaper.

Now if my headache du jour would just go away I could work on them some more...

Yesterday I sewed all the channels in my front pieces.


I decided to experiment with using temp basting spray rather than the pins and hand basting I've done in the past. It worked like a dream! My coutil pieces didn't shift or move one little bit. Yay! (I was careful to start with the longest center bones and to sew up and down in alternating directions too) I have to say I am loving working with the coutil so far. It really is fabulous stuff for foundation garments! :>


I used silk thread, since Bette, my sewing machine, didn't like the quilting thread I've used in the past. I like the silk thread alot though for this, it's so lovely to work with. *sigh*

I just did my very first fabric burn test... ooh, ahh! It confirmed that my suspicions about the fiber content of the pink fabric I bought in NYC was right - it's a wool/rayon. Dude I am good!

So I can't use it for my new stays. Moo. I don't mind making a frock or two out of blends but not stays. I learned that lesson the hard way. So back to square one on the stay fabric. I do have some silk taffeta I could use but I'm concerned about it not holding up well. I tend to stick my stays with lots of pins while I'm toileing patterns, I can't imagine that will work well with taffeta. But I want pretty. Bah!

In happier news sadievale and I worked on the patterns for stays last night. I had some minor tweaks to make to my pattern (which necessitated re doing some of the boning channels - ick) then we had some more major tweaks to make for the same pattern to work for S (which, thanks to lengthening for her long torso, necessitated more boning channel re-drawing *sigh*).

I left my pattern with her (so her mom could trace it off for herself) so I can't work on stays this week. Darn. I'll just have to go back to my current CADD project of a new Regency dress and Spencer. I’m hating that, can you tell? Not that I know what fabric I'm using for the Spencer. I think my stash and I need some quality time this week to work out these supply issues...