Sewing Basic Strapless “Renaissance” Stays with Modern Materials

This tutorial shows how to make basic strapless Renaissance stays or bodies, which will work as a foundation garment for any costume requiring a conical silhouette. The goal of this method is to create stays as easily and simply as possible, using readily available modern materials, while still providing a proper Renaissance fashion silhouette. If your goal is to create an historically accurate pair of stays, this is NOT the method you will want to use.

The drafting of the pattern used for these stays is covered in Drafting Basic Strapless Renaissance Stays (Front or Back Lacing). The finished stays will be front-lacing with no gap, and partially boned into the tabs.

Materials

½ yard – 1 yard of fabric, depending upon the size of the pattern. I used approximately ¾ yard of hemp canvas purchased from Dharma Trading Co. Modern corset coutil works very well, but does not look even remotely period, so I would recommend covering it with another fabric. I do not recommend using cotton duck canvas, because it has a significant amount of give and will stretch as you wear it. Linen canvas is an excellent choice, but very expensive and difficult to find.

¾” or wider ribbon for the edging, or wide bias tape. I used ¾” cotton taffeta ribbon.

Spring-steel boning. The exact lengths and number of bones depends upon the size of the corset being made. I used two ¼” wide bones per tab, two ¼” wide bones for the center front edges, and six ½” wide bones fanned across the front. If you want to use spiral steels I recommend at least doubling the number of bones to keep a stronger conical shape. If you want to use reed or cording, I recommend fully boning the stays instead of using the partial boning shown. If the stays are large (36” waist or larger), I recommend full boning even if using spring steel to ensure a smooth conical shape.

Two-part grommets and the tools to set them.

Lacing for the finished stays.

Constructing the Body of the Stays

Cut two of each panel on the fold. Mark the tabs, but DO NOT cut them.

Sew the panels to each other.

I recommend lock-stitching the seams so they will be stronger and less likely to pop under stress. Lock-stitching is when you stitch back over a seam that has already been sewn.

Create a continual loop from all four pieces.

You can either iron the seams open, or iron them to the side. I iron them to the side so the pressure of the garment will not lay directly on the stitched seam threads. If you iron to the side, be sure that all seams are ironed the same direction.

This pair of stays will be front lacing, so I folded the stays at the front panels. The back panel is open and in the center of the photo below. It is now two layers of material thick.

I lined up the seams and pined them together before stitching along the seams to secure the layers together.

I determined the very center of the back panel. Then I used a rolling chalk marker to mark a vertical line 3/8” from the center line. This is where I stitched the first boning channel seam. The channel is barely wider than the boning, ¼” wide.

After stitching both sides of the first boning channel, I marked another line 3/8” from the center back. All boning channels are created in mirror on both halves of the stays.

The next channels out are 3/8” from the other side of the tabs, and parallel to the first channels.

The next pair of channels are 3/8” from the seam between the panels.

The boning channels for each remaining tab are all parallel, and 3/8” from the edges of the tabs.

After all of the tabs had boning channels, I added the boning channels to the front of the stays.

I pressed the front panel so ti had a crisp front edge, and then stitched a ¼” boning channel along the front side. A ½” bone can be used instead if you prefer.

Leave a gap wide enough for your grommets. I use #0 grommets, so I left a 5/8” gap. After lining up the stitch line for the front boning channel, I mark the width using a Sharpie pen. Sharpie can be removed from most hard surfaces using rubbing alcohol, but test your machine before marking it to be sure the ink is removable. Alternatively, you can put down a strip of masking tape and mark it instead.

I recommend inserting a wide strip of twill tape or tailors tape along the area to be grommeted, to help re-enforce it and prevent tearing when the garment is worn.

Mark both sides of the 1/2 ” boning channels using a rolling chalk marker. This will allow you to make them consistent widths, and placed the same on both sides of the stays.

The centermost ½” channels are vertical. The others are fanned out across the front of the stays.