Lacing Stays

How To Lace Up Your Stays
(18th C. Corset Laced Diagonally)

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*IMPORTANT*
DON'T pull on the needle when you pull on the laces to tighten.
Only pull on the ribbon itself. If you pull on the needle it may
damage the ribbon where the eye rubs against the ribbon.

If the ribbon gets twisted at any point, just loosen up the laces and
twist the ribbon until it is flat again before going on.

Because the Tapestry needle is blunt it won't poke you, but it still
could go through the chemise. Be careful not to sew through your
chemise when you lace.

The most important thing to remember is to thread all the left
eyelets in the same manner and all the right eyelets in the same
manner to have the lacing come out right

Leave the knotted end of the ribbon inside the very last eyelet as
shown.
You don't want the knot to show on the outside.
If the knot becomes too small and pulls through the eyelet, make a
slightly bigger knot.

Slip the other end of the ribbon through the eye of the tapestry
needle provided to you.

Begin by inserting the needle into the first eyelet on the left on the
INSIDE. As shown.

Pull it towards the right eyelet, but don't over tighten it yet. You
want to make sure it's sitting properly on the body, and that the
chemise is pulled down under the stays first before you tighten the
laces completely.

Insert the needle in the OUTSIDE of the right eyelet, as shown.

Go all the way to the left eyelet and go up through the INSIDE of
the left eyelet as shown.

Pull on the RIBBON to slightly tighten it up.

Keep lacing. Go through the right eyelet on the OUTSIDE, push the
needle all the way to the left eyelet and go up through the INSIDE
of the left eyelet and pull on the ribbon slightly.
Keep lacing. See below.

When you get done lacing, check that the stays are fitted to the body properly,
if the straps are gaping, it needs to come down slightly on the torso, so loosen
it up a bit and pull gently on the tabs to pull it in place. If the stays are
properly in place, gently pull on the chemise to remove any bulk in front, back
and sides. Now you can tighten it all the way. Just remember to pull on the
RIBBON not the needle. The back does not close all the way at the tabs. See
the image at the very bottom of the page for what closed stays should look like.

When you come to the last eyelet on the left, take the needle and pass it
UNDER the last pass as shown.

Pull up on the ribbon as shown to the left.

Now you're going to make a bow, and it can be hard at first. Start by making a
loop.

Then wrap around that loop.

Pull it through to make the bow. Practice until you can get it. It's hard to make
a bow with only one lace. But it just takes patience. Pull gently on both loops
until the bow is as you like it to be, then pull hard to tighten down on it.

You can leave the bow exposed if you want,

or you can tuck it between the stays and the chemise as shown the left.

The end result: Diagonally laced stays (corset).
P.S. You can lace the stays from the top to the bottom instead of bottom to
the top.

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