New short stays

On Monday this week I decided that time was ripe for a new pair of short stays. I used the same pattern I drafted for the first pair I made and decided to make them a bit sturdier than the previous pair. I found a piece of mint green taffeta in my stash just enough for this project and made that the top layer of the stays. I cut the middle layer of hard-wearing cotton (they call it "raw fabric" in the shop) and made the lining out of some mint green cotton I had lying around.
I also decided to do some cording on these stays to prevent them from stretching and to give them additional support. For boning I used semi-stiff plastic bone in two widths, two lengths of the narrower on both sides of centre back and two lenghts of the wider one on centre front and the sides. I also used jute cord for the cording.
I finished the stays today and I'm very pleased with the result. I might even go so far as to say that they're the first stays of any period that turned out just the way I wanted :) Here's a load of pictures I took:

I added a drawstring inside the top edge of the stays to improve the fit

The bones I used

Some construction photos, top layer and the middle layer pinned together

Putting in the gores

Everything is handstitched, as usual

Cording lines skecthed on a paper mock up

Centre front boning and cording on the reverse side

Centre back and lacing holes; the bones refused to lie flat

In fact, I actually liked sewing on the cording and was thinking that it might be interesting to make a pair of stays that are entirely corded.