Our costume box at the Museum is very popular with visitors of all ages and forms a central part of our school visit. In early March we found out more about 18th century dress at fashion historian Emily Ireson’s Johnson Society lecture ‘18th Century Fashion – From Excesses of Fabric, to the Age of Undress.’ The talk inspired Sarah Dale, a talented sewist on our Attendant team, to explore making stays for the Birthplace.
Sarah has produced a fantastic pair of stays and has documented her whole process. Click this link for her complete sewalong. Sarah has used modern techniques and a sewing machine, which wouldn’t have been available to staymakers of Johnson’s time – although not too far after, as there were some developments in the 18th century and the first functional machine appeared in 1830.
Samuel Johnson defines stays as “a kind of stiff waistcoat made of whalebone, worn by women”. He does not include an example of usage for this entry, suggesting a word so widely know that it simply must have been included in the Dictionary. He does, however include a line from Swift in his proceeding entry for ‘Staylace’
But how would they have been worn? National Museums Liverpool have produced an excellent video showing the process of getting dressed in the 18th century: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpnwWP3fOSA&t=34s
For more sartorial content, our Featured Item post about Johnson’s shoe buckles explores one of the most significant pieces on personalia in our collection.
