ABSTRACT
B y the middle of the eighteenth century the technical skill of the staymaker had reached a very high standard. Besides the whalebones inserted in the body of the bodice and the separate centre front busc bone, there were now extra shaping bones arranged inside the stays {baleines de dressage) ; two or more curved pieces, of heavier whalebone, were laid across the top part of the front to give roundness to the bust, and straight pieces across the shoulder blades to keep the back flat. The direction of the boning varied, but it was always laid diagonally on the sides of the front to narrow the body. Throughout the whole period the stays were made either fully boned or half-boned. When fully boned the bones were laid close together and might be as narrow as an eighth of an inch in width. When it is remembered that all the stitching was back-stitch done by hand, and all the whalebone had to be cut into strips-the thickness varying according to its position on the body-one cannot but admire the craftsmanship of these eighteenth-century corsets.
