Description:
Infant's one piece pair of stays made of blue and white striped linen, plain weave linen and checked blue and white linen, which is relatively short in length (no tabs, etc., like an adult one). This early example has a top shaped with a slightly curved front neckline that is pointed on either end, a dip at each side to accomodate the arms, and straight across the back. The bottom is shaped with a CF point, and a less severe CB point. Each side of the center back opening is reinforced with boning or reed, and covered with a blue and white plaid linen. Four eyelet holes on either side accomodate lacing. The thread eyelets are typical with two close together at top of (wearers) left side opening, and two together at the bottom of the right, which allows the undergarment to be laced with a heavy, single cord. The back of the corset is seamed on either side, and covered on the outside by a piece of red wool. The interior linen appears to be stiffened with some kind of sizeing, and the top and bottom edges are protected with a binding of yellow chamois/treated deer hide(?). The inside of the corset is reinforced with a buckram, and a coarser linen reinforces the back inside The stitching is done in white linen thread, doubled for strength. Paired vertical rows of stitching indicate where boning exists; namely three at CF, two on either side, and five-six on either side of back. Stays, known as corsets by the ninenteenth century, were believed to encourage good posture, provide support, and form a fine figure. Linda Baumgarten notes that children as young as three months were put into stays. The effects of stays from a young age can be seen in the shape of most adult clothing of the 18th century. Garments from this period for both men and women have sloping shoulder lines, flat backs, and prominent chests because stays molded the shoulders and torso into that shape. Boys generally stopped wearing them when they started wearing trousers or breeches around age 10, but girls continued to wear them into adulthood. This example is fairly crudely made. That, combined with its extremely small size, may indicate it was used to dress a toy doll, giving the proper shape to the neckline and CF waist point, but without the finer details of cosntruction typical for a garment belonging to a fashion doll or fashion baby to communicate the latest fashions in Europe and America.
Label Text:
The clothing worn by 18th-century children often resembled that worn by adults. So, too, adult posture and deportment was impressed upon young bodies from an early age. This rare example of a child’s stays or corset could have been worn by a young boy or girl. While boys would leave off such shaping devices around the time they were breeched (about 5-7 years old), young girls continued to wear stays into adulthood.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2000.69.2 |
