ABSTRACT

Stays and Corsets: Historical Patterns Translated for the Modern Body goes a step beyond traditional historical costuming texts by not only providing you with historical pattern diagrams and information, but by showing you how to adapt these patterns to the contemporary body shape. Using her original pattern-drafting system, author Mandy Barrington will show you how to draft a historical pattern for a modern body shape, while still retaining an accurate historical silhouette.

Each pattern has been generated from an original stay, corset, or pattern taken from a historical garment. The instructions to follow these new patterns are designed to accommodate any size of female figure, allowing you to avoid extremely difficult, time consuming, and inaccurate historical pattern re-sizing Requiring only basic prior knowledge of pattern drafting, all calculations have been worked out for the costume maker and are provided in simple tables accompanied by easy-to-read, step-by-step diagrams that clearly show how the historical pattern is plotted onto the female basic block, coupled with photographs of the constructed stays and corsets.

chapter |1 pages

Introduction

chapter 1|3 pages

How to use this book

chapter 2|3 pages

Pattern-drafting tools

chapter 3|7 pages

Female measurements

chapter 4|13 pages

The female basic block

chapter 6|3 pages

Historical patterns

chapter 7|27 pages

1735–50 full-boned corset bodice

chapter 8|23 pages

1776 half-boned stays

chapter 9|25 pages

1785–88 half-boned stays

chapter 10|21 pages

1793 fully-boned short stays

chapter 11|25 pages

1820 white cotton corset

chapter 12|23 pages

1860 closed front corset

chapter 13|25 pages

1875 corded and quilted corset

chapter 14|21 pages

1890 riding corset

chapter 15|26 pages

1890 wasp-waist corset