I learned an interesting, unintentional lesson at Reenactorfest this past weekend.
The way your stays are laced significantly effects the way your stays fit & feel.
Saturday S laced me up. Since she rarely laces me into my stays, I walked her through the basics of spiral lacing. Over from one side, under the other. Despite not having worn my stays for nearly 2 months they were still comfortable. Bending, moving, dancing, nothing felt wrong or off about them.
Sunday S laced me in again, however this time I didn't walk her though the lacing pattern. For the life of me I couldn't figure out why they felt different. My arm pits felt bruised. I checked and it wasn't the reeds under my arms poking. I thought perhaps it was from the stays being stored flat over the winter, and the adjustment of wearing them for long periods of time after months off. As it turned out, I was subconsciously pushing my stays down with my arms, resulting in the bruised feeling under my arms. But why were they bothering me Sunday when they were fine on Saturday?
I found out when I got changed; S had laced me wrong. Rather than under one side, over the other she had laced me over one side, over the other, as if she was lacing one side of a shoe lace.
I never knew how much difference stay lacing could cause. From now on, I'll be keeping a closer eye on how my lacer does their job.
Of course it's even more encouragement to make a pair of front lacing stays for myself.
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