This makes me nervous...

I've been working on Sapphire's stays this week, and they're coming along really well.

This makes me nervous. Usually, I should have screwed something up majorly by now..but...so far..so good...eek.

Original Pattern...Can we discuss how small these pieces are? Seriously.
And how ugly that rug is? Don't even get me started on that beast.

What I did wayy before now was pattern the stays and make a really fast flimsy mockup in 2 layers of muslin. Just so that way I could see how the shape is on her, does it fit, etc. And really, I was quite pleased with it. I felt it was too long, which was weird because I patterned it to her measurements, but...whatevs. Anways, after fitting it, I did the minor adjustments I felt were necessary (shortening) and fixing the armhole some.

Side view. She will have more 'oomph' once it was laced up properly. It wasn't as tight as I would have liked it.

I am very pleased with how the front piece looks and the neckline. 

 You can also see from the pictures that I made a crease to shorten the stays just to see what happens, and I was very pleased with how that turned out. I was also shoving a busk down her front to give the front part of the stays more structure so she had a better idea of what to expect. I also draped the shoulder straps to her so that way there will be no peeking of stays with her gown.

I've ordered synthetic whalebone to bone her stays with...I'm excited to use it, but a bit apprehensive at the same time...but I've heard good reviews so I am expecting to be very pleased with the results.

What I've been doing these past two days have been repatterning, cutting, and bone layout designing. I've opted to use 3 layers. Two of these layers are very sturdy cotton canvas and the inner layer is a thick, sturdy, but soft cotton interfacing/fleece type fabric. I will also line the fabric, either in a muslin or a linen that I have stashed away. 

I've also been having a lot of fun with the boning design. Sapphire's so tiny that she does not need fully boned stays, but I wanted to make sure that the boning was around so that way she had the structure and also the lift that she wanted.

2nd Piece

Front piece

My goal with the large Xs on the front pieces is that they will hit her at her bust (X marks the spot..bar har har....sorry.) And the V from the top of the X will create a lifting for her bust that she wants to have. We'll see though..at least they look cool..right? right?

I also opted out of adding seam allowance to anything that is not a seam, revolutionary, I know. But I just can't help but to be a bit nervous about omitting seam allowance..like I'm breaking a rule or something....it's thrilling really...

I'm such a rebel. har.

But that's where I'm at now, just waiting for my boning to come in and then once I'm all clear with the boning channels then I'm sewing this sucker together, wham bam thank ya ma'am. Sapphire's gonna have herself a pair of bonafide lady's stays.

Holla.