Dark brown 1780's stays in progress + graduation

In the last post I told you that I would make another pair of 1780's because I wasn't perfectly happy with the last ones - the fit was really good but the shape, however, wasn't. So, I started drawing a new pattern in the beginning of May but I had to put it aside because there was only a month to my graduation and I had a lot of stuff to finish for school. The month was really crazy and I got really stressed about having far too much to do so I didn't have any time nor energy to sew at home at all. But now I'm happy to say I finished everything in time and graduated! Currently, I call myself to be on vacation, even if I'm, in fact, just unemployed. I do think I deserve to rest and to the things I love for a while, though, and now I'm not planning to start looking for a job before August. There's not much interesting to say about my graduation, except that my mom gave me a new sewing machine as a graduation gift and I received this awesome congratulations card from a very dear friend of mine.

 

Isn't that just pretty? I think it's also really funny she drew the graduation hat on the top of her hair! And the card glitters! :D Now it has got a special place on my sewing table.

Alright, back to sewing progress... I've now cut the pieces for the new stays and sewn all the channels for bones, here's a picture of how it looks at the moment:

I chose dark brown cotton twill for the outer fabric because many 1780's stays found in museums are brown - all shades of beige and brown seem to have been really popular during the decade. I debated whether it would be a good idea to use such a dark color because one of the dresses I'm going to make to be worn on the stays is going to be very light in color, but as I couldn't find any good beige fabric the decision was easy in the end.  To achieve that curved profile I'm going for, I added more curve to the front, back and back side panels. I'm really excited to see how it looks on the first fitting which I hope I'll be able to do in some the next few days. Things will be much easier for me now because the stays will be laced in the front as well as in the back. The pattern is, once again, my own, based on a few examples in museum collections and books. As usual, I will use cable ties for boning but also four metal bones, two for the centre front and two for the centre back.