18th Century Undergarments

I am so excited to work on the 18th century dress, but unfortunately, I have to make all of the undergarments first. All of the things that go under a period dress are just as important as the actual dress. Without the stays, bumpad, and petticoat(s), the dress would look very flat, and without the chemise, it would be very uncomfortable.
Since this is the first time I have ever created a project like this, it has been a bit slow going, since I don't have anything already made. So far, I have finished the bumpad and chemise, and I am slowly but surely working on the stays. 

The half-finished stays and bumpad

This has been a bit of a nerve-racking process, but my American Duchess* pattern has made it much easier. 
I was apprehensive to start on the stays since they are so different from anything I have ever made before. I decided to go with a different technique when it came to putting them together than what you would see in period garments, purely to make things a bit easier on myself. The biggest change being: I used cording rather than any type of boning. This is not accurate at all, as far as I have seen. Cording did not start in corsets or stays until the regency era. After that, it was quite popular throughout the 19th century, but before the early 1800s, I have not seen any examples of stays with cording in them in my research. 

I went with cording for a few reasons. One, I have made corded garments before, so there was less chance of failing and having to start over. Also, I already had cording in the house, and I did not have to search or buy anything else. Lastly, I have never worn a corset or any heavily boned piece of clothing before, so I thought that this would be a better way of easing myself into that.
Another thing that will be different and not at all period correct is that I will not be bias binding the stays. 

Close up of the historically inaccurate cording

The inside of the stays. This will be covered with a lining

Once the stays are finished, I just have a petticoat to make, then I'm on to the fun stuff!
​~K
*I am not an ambassador for American Duchess, any opinion I have about the company and their patterns are my own:)