My Handmade Stays: Historical Clothing is Surprisingly Comfortable!

Recently I finished making my first pair of stays, so I could dress like a hobbit while puttering around on my homestead, or vending at festivals. I used a pattern from Hag and Company. I’ve always wanted some stays, but was too intimidated to make them. I finally bit the bullet. Us modern folks tend to love our stretchy clothes, and cringe at the thought of wearing “hard pants,” but there are so many reasons why historical clothing, including stays, are surprisingly comfortable and practical.

Historical Clothing Lesson: What Are Stays?

Stays are an old fashioned boned vest that many women used to wear in Europe and America from about the 15th century through the 19th century. They were laced at the front, and shaped the torso into a smooth cone or triangle shape. (Corsets are slightly different -they lace in the back, have hook fasteners in the front, and aim to create a curvy hourglass shape.) Despite being stiff and heavy, stays and other historical garments are comfortable and practical, because they are supportive, adjustable, made with breathable fibers, and protect the body.

Stays are Supportive

Stays are stiff and boned, and they are meant to support the bust and posture. As I was wearing mine, it was easy to maintain excellent posture without tiring. Walking, sitting, lounging, and bending in all directions was easy to do with good posture, especially sitting and bending over to pick things up.

God built me with a small bust that doesn’t require a lot of support, but I’ve heard that women with fuller busts often find wearing stays to be more comfortable than bras. Stays are boned, but unlike bra underwire, there’s not a spot where the boning could poke into your body. And the straps on stays are very comfortable -they aren’t digging in to your shoulders because the bodice is supporting itself.

Stays -and Most Historical Clothes- Are Adjustable

Our bodies fluctuate in size all the time, but it seems like we have forgotten that in recent decades. The “hard pants” that we typically wear today are not adjustable at all, unless they can be altered by a tailor, which takes time and money. In contrast, stays, and the gowns that went with them, were very adjustable to size fluctuations. Not by means of altering, but simply by how tight or loose you tied them on. Stays were laced closed, and could be laced tighter or looser. Skirts were tied on with bands, and could be tied to just the right measurement.

Back then, it didn’t make sense to waste money on new clothes every time your size changed a little bit. Altering clothes was done, but typically on a bigger scale, such as to cut an old dress up and sew it into a new style, or hem a skirt for a new wearer of a different height. Of course, most of our modern clothes are stretchy, which is our way of solving this human problem of size fluctuation. But I suspect that we have to replace our clothing a lot more often than people back in the day, both due to size fluctuation and lack of quality.

Historical Clothing Uses Natural Fibers

The majority of our clothing today is made out of plastic. Imagine wrapping yourself in a plastic drop cloth and going for a walk on a hot, humid day. The plastic would be fogging up with condensation and sweat, because air cannot flow through it. You would feel hot, sweaty, and stuffy within minutes. The sweat would be dripping down your skin.

Acrylic and polyester (plastic) clothing is a little more breathable than a plastic drop cloth because of their woven or knitted structure, but they’re not as breathable as natural fibers such as wool, cotton, linen, and silk. Historically, all clothing was made out of natural fibers and was breathable, absorbent, and even had a cooling effect, despite all the many layers. Summer clothing was made out of smooth, lightweight fabrics, and winter clothing was made out of thicker, warm fabrics.

Historical Clothing is Protective

Historically, most humans spent a lot of time living and working outside. They needed clothing that would be durable, and protect them from the sun, rain, snow, wind, thorns, bugs, briars, tall grass, animals, and more. Even today, many desert cultures still wear long clothing to protect them from the sun (when done right, this has a cooling effect and doesn’t overheat the body at all. Tank tops and shorts are not smart desert wear.) Cowboys still wear “hard pants” to protect their legs from brush. Durable, longer clothing, layers, and supportive clothing, all have the benefit of added protection from sunburn, bug bites, and scratches from briars and grass. When I wear historical clothing I feel safer and less exposed to injury. (With the exception of wearing long skirts near fires. You have to be careful about that!)

I Love My Stays!

In conclusion, I’m not planning to wear historical clothing all the time. But for many years I have been looking to historical clothing for inspiration in creating a practical, comfortable wardrobe that I love. I try to buy or make clothing that is durable, comfortable, easily adjustable, made with natural fibers, and appropriately protective for whatever task I’m doing in them. I’m planning to make more stays too -handspun and handwoven??? Yes, please!