ABSTRACT
Dating stays and corsets is very difficult as these were often worn outside the dates recorded for each garment; within one decade a range of stay and corset shapes can be seen. The historical pattern instructions have been developed with the modern body shape in mind, and where needed have been adapted to create the same panel shapes and final silhouette as the original historical garment. Each recorded historical stays and corset pattern has been constructed into a three-dimensional sample in the original size to check the pattern for proportion and shape. This has enabled us to examine the angles of each panel, the position of the waist, the angle of straps and tabs. The bust to waist and waist to hip ratio has dramatically altered since the abandonment of controlling foundation wear in the latter half of the 20th century, and this is reflected in the pattern panel shapes for each pattern.
