Corset and Crinolines:
By Norah Waugh – 1954
This is a fascinating book – although much more basically printed than we are used to now-a-days, it is still packed full of intriguing little tit-bits. This is one you will actually have to read and not just flick through!
Within this book there is a whole chapter on Eighteenth Century Stays, with working drawings from a couple of stays and good infomation about technique and styles. Waugh, also within this chapter, mentions things like the development of the techniques used in Half Boning towards the end of the century and the discovery that (and we quote) ‘that it was mainly the direction of the whalebone and the supporting inside bones which gave the shape to the stays , so from then onwards less seaming was used’. It’s also in this chapter where she mentions stiffening with glue and heavy canvas and heat shaping techniques.
Front Cover:
Chapter 2: The Stays – P.37:
Chapter 2: The Hooped Petticoats – P.46:
Waugh also has a section on Hooped Pettticoats – with pattern drawings and a working drawing (see below).