Stays

Heavily boned stays made of linen, edges bound with linen tape (not bias binding). Centre front stiffened with a busk. A square, free-hanging linen pocket has been stitched onto the inside of the upper front edge – this has been stamped with “E.A. Abbey”, see below. The eyelets centre back are in spiral lacing configuration and stitched with gold silk thread. The bottom of the centre front point is re-enforced with an additional piece of linen and a strip of tape/ribbon runs across from one side of the point to the other creating a sort of loop.

The stays appear to have been made from two layers of linen canvas. The individual sections seem to to have been individually made up with edges finished before piecing together with a very narrow seam stitched in a herringbone-type stitch to look clean on the inside and outside without an additional lining. The boning channels are not back stitched, rather they appear to be sewn with a running stitch. The casing for the busk pieces (two wide bones) has been applied on top of the stays centre front

The shoulder straps are made from a different fabric, possibly cotton, and are roughly stitched to the fronts. The metal eyelets at the ends of the straps suggest they are not original. Likewise the ribbon across the centre front lower point appears to be a later addition – the style of ribbon and rough stitching do not match the whole.

The stays were part of a collection of props used by Edwin Austin Abbey (April 1, 1852 – August 1, 1911), an American artist, illustrator, and painter who was known for the historical acccuracy of his work often depicting scenes from Shakespeare. Born in Philadelphia in 1852, Abbey moved to England in 1878 where he settled permanently in 1883. Abbey became ill with cancer in 1911 and died in the late summer of that year.