Foundations Revealed

Wendy analyzes over 80 stays from 1790-1829 for fiber, colour, weave, length, opening placement, shoulder treatment, bust shaping, boning or cording.

Trying to date a particular corset, track changes in lingerie fashion down to a few years, or just looking for new inspiration? Plenty here to keep you busy...

The Corset Elastique, or Elastic Stay, is an interesting oddity in the little-known world of Regency era corsets. Amanda investigates.

Two questions and a short story on the Letters page this month: how to make a set of the 1660 watered silk stays from the V&A, alternative lacing and where to find colored eyelets, a short story from 1913.

How to make this very unique busk step by step at home with hand tools, which are easily acquired at your local hardware store if you don’t already have them at home.

Sandra Stuart walks you through enlarging a small diagram to the correct size for the creation of a working pattern, using an 1878 original and Photoshop.

Joanne shows how to use old patterns to make beautiful garments that are just not possible with today's mass market sewing patterns.

Jennifer shows us an intuitive way to take a pattern from an existing corset. Includes pattern & shopping list for a simple, authentic 1910s corset.

We look in detail at a rare antique shop find - a real, plus size Victorian corset - and then we give you the pattern.

Jennifer shows you how to alter the pattern from last month, then sew the corset step by step, using the same vintage techniques as in the original.

A tatty old Ebay find leads to a fascinating journey of discovery, recreating both the corset itself and its owner's story.

Knowing how stays were really made allows us to imitate those techniques and produce an accurate garment. We study the genuine article in detail.

Interpreting this unusual and sophisticated Edwardian design into a contemporary corset is a wonderful challenge that I am thrilled to share!

The pattern and a step-by-step guide to make this elegant corset from 1899-1900, including a new seam technique just for corsetry that negotiates curves perfectly and encases all the raw edges neatly.

This corset uses machine corded fabric instead of bones to stiffen the panels into an impressively curvaceous shape. It also has a sturdy spoon shaped busk. Here's how to make it.

Jema takes the pattern she made from an antique here and recreates it step by step, including a lapped seam technique for one layer corsets that neatly encases all raw edges on both sides.

Photos, details and a pattern for an 1869 American skeleton corset. It has no fabric between the boning channels, just a few horizontal tapes to hold the bone casings together.

Following our Pattern Challenge article, here's more about the pattern and its maker, along with my method of patterning this corset from scratch.

Thomson's Glove fitting corset: we look at the 1898 patent, advertisements, a few extant corsets in collections and work on putting the pieces together to recreate it.