18th century stays

Inside of the green stays.

Right inside.

Left inside. You can see the stitches where someone added the belt later.

Embroidered right side flap of the green stays.

Left front of the stays. Someone, much later, sewed the front "belt" down. I really don't think it was meant to be like that since it looks like it was supposed to lace up, have an embroidered flap go from the right side, crossing to the left to cover the lacing. Then, it looks like, someone didn't like the idea of using pins and used a "belt" to keep the flap in place. Someone else, later, didn't like that or didn't understand the purpose and sewed the belt down.

Back of the green stays.

More of the back tabs.

This really makes me think the "inner" part of the stays are much older than the facing or that the stays were reworked at a later date. The two inner back tabs are covered in suede and the two outer are in the same red linen (?) as the front inner section of the stays.

On the back of the stays, the red ribbon is slowing coming off. You can easily see the green silk ribbon beneath it. I'm not sure if it's contemporary to the red or if it's older.

The right front of the green stays. You can see the original red front, the inner linen lining and a bit of the green facing.

The very top right edge of the green stays. I wanted to show that the green brocade facing and the linen inside are only "covers" for a red and natural linen "inner" part of the stays. I think the red stays are actually much older, cut down, and the covers were made to make them look "pretty".

Inside of the Regency stays. I'm thinking 1790's.

The ruler and my thumb for some scale of the hip pad.

I wanted to get a good picture of the "stuffing" for the hip pads. It wouldn't come out nicely so this is as much as I could see.

Right inside view of the stays. You can see the eyelets and the flap that is supposed to close over the lacing.

Stays laid flat. The "string" is the original lacing for the stays.

Front flap of the stays with decorative stitching