Elisa looks at the history of stays and discusses a few extant garments to see if any conclusions can be drawn on their construction.

Carmene guides us through making "a well-fitted corset made by every housewife or active woman who needs to move" from 1855.

Wendy puts her earlier research on transitional Regency stays into practice and reproduces a set of stays for herself, walking us through the fitting stages.

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

Izabela gives us a simple, yet historically accurate construction guide for the non-expert that offers the maximum number of fitting opportunities.

Alison Kannon demystifies the construction and recreation of “bodies”, the stiffened supportive layer of clothing that later came to be called a corset or stays.

Hallie Larkin provides the pattern and sizing instructions, and walks us through period-accurate construction and replication of these authentic stays.

There have always been pregnant women, and women nursing, but what they wore during these times is harder to know. Amanda investigates and makes her own.

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

Andrea guides us through the mockup of the Mina Sebille’s Patent US39964 which is a basic corset pattern comprised of only five pieces per side.

Part 2 of Madam Foy's 1868 patent corset, with two finished corsets, one in coutil  and one in silk.

Carly recreates an 1868 corset patent for her own unique body type, using Laura Loft's Silverado corset instructions. 1: drafting and first mock-up.