Inch by inch

So the winner of the "What Next?" contest is... apparently.... the 18th century stays.

Awhile back I put on my circa 2009 Costume College stay mockup, then worked some alterations into a second version of the pattern. Then I sat on it.

Tonight I pulled it out, because new, better stays is step 1.  And yet, and yet... I haven't tested this pattern yet, so I'm loathe to cut the nice silk fashion fabric and linen canvas until I know how this fits. So I turned around, and dug through the stacks. 

Half a yard of heavyweight cotton canvas, from the end of my sewing board covering activities? That'll do for a nice firm lining.  And then that random Waverly Barono print that turned out to be a weird loose duck canvas? Yeah, that'll work for a fashion layer - $DIETY knows I'm not going to have much else to use it for, it's such a weird wiggly stretchy sateen-y and yet still too heavy weave.

First I had to press all of this from the folds it'd all sat in. And let me tell you, it's been long enough since I used the steamer on my iron that I had to unhook the takeup cord from the ceiling and bleed the stupid thing. Turns out if you don't use the steamer often enough, air bubbles get trapped in it and then you don't get any steam whatsoever.

Whipped out my cutting mat, some pins, and went to town. 

It's a pretty fabric, just weird and not very symmetrical. No way to do anything fancy with the pattern across the bust - but hey, I keep telling myself, this is mockup #2.

I am determined to crawl out of this seamstress' block.