18th Century Women’s Stays
Additional Resources
Patterns of the 18th Century:
How to Make an 18th Century Corset, or, more accurately, a pair of stays
How to Make a Pair of 18th c. Stays using the Custom Corset Pattern Generator
Tailleur d'habits et tailleur de corps in Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, 1771
18th Century Stays Blog, discussing aspects of 18th century original stays and the stay-making Trade
A Timeline of Women's Stays: 1600-1800
Fashion before ease – on 18th century stays
Textiles noted with entries below are generally the exterior fabric, unless the lining-fabric is unusual.
(Children’s stays can be found here.)
- PMA 1903-136, glazed wool twill, England or America, c. 1725-1750
- LACMA 63.24.5, silk with weft-float patterning, France, c. 1730-1740
- LACMA M.57.24.1, silk moire, England, c. 1730-1740
- Nordiska museet NM.0022164, brocade,
- Stays, linen, c. 1740-1760
- Manc 1947.1622, glazed woolen damask, Britain, c. 1740-1760
- PMA 1903-135, glazed wool twill, England or America, mid-18th century
- LACMA M.81.220.1, silk, Italy, c. 1750
- Christies Lot 307, Sale 5422: A fine set of fully boned stays, cream wool over linen ground, with white kid binding, mid-18th century
- 18th century corset, c. 1750-1760
- CG11, “found in a thatched cottage in the village of Pontarddulais, West Glamorgan, Wales … This part of a corset would have covered the chest and abdomen. It is formed of three layers, an outer layer of buff coloured wool, a layer of whalebone strips and a linen lining.”
- MFA 43.561, blue silk damask, printed linen lining; France, 1750
- Museum at FIT 99.79.3, multicolor silk brocade, France, c. 1750
- Stays, c. 1750-1760
- Nordiska museet NM.0004796, chamois leather, Sweden, c. 1750-1760
- Nordiska museet NM.0001007, chamois leather, Sweden, c. 1750-1770
- Met C.I.39.13.211: green silk damask, third quarter of the 18th century
- Nordiska museet NM.0194150, chamois leather, Sweden, c. 1750-1799
- MRAH, silk, c. 1750-1800
- A set of stays from the Marjorie Russell Clothing and Textile Museum attributed to the Billinghurst family, linen, c. 1760? 1780?
- Met C.I.50.8.2: silk and linen with leather, wood, and baleen, France, late 1760s
- PVMA 1880.015.01, satin weave wool, lined with blue and white check linen, bound with white leather, c. 1765-1775
- CW 1986-111, silk brocade, France or Italy, c. 1765, probably altered in c. 1775-1790 (alteration for breastfeeding)
- SPNEA 1936.409, c. 1770
- Tailleur d'habits et tailleur de corps in Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, 1771
- Met C.I.40.173.6a-e: silk, Italy, 1770s
- Augusta 8.4833.85.177, tan cotton lined with homespun linen, England, c. 1775-1785
- BATMC I.27.866, linen and cotton, c. 1775-1799
- V&A T.909-1913, stays covered in silk damask, lined with linen, reinforced with whalebone, England, 1770-1790
- Maria Niforos EI-1, linen; attached note: “These stays were worn the first time Jan 14th 1779 by Miss Susanna Lincoln of Taunton on her Wedding day.”
- Meg Andrews 6904, twill weave cotton, c. 1780
- Christies Lot 3330, Sale 4981: A fine corset, linen covered and lined fully boned long body, with elegant silk cord decorative lacing to the front, shaped and boned tabs at the lower edge, 1780s
- Front view and back view, pink jean linen with blue silk, England, c. 1780-1790
- National museet NM.0009162, camlet, Sweden, c. 1780-1820
- SPNEA 1966.39, homespun, c. 1790
