Stay covers

This afternoon I spent some time cutting out stay covers.

What are stay covers?  Stays are the metal boning in a corset,  They are enclosed in material, covering the stays, to hold the stays in place.  There is a metal stay laying on one of the strips of fabric that will be a stay cover.

After the covers are cut out they have to have their edges folded under.  To do this easily, you can thread a long pin through your ironing board cover leaving the center space as wide as you want your folds to be.  A stay shows the center space.  It has to be wider than the stay so you can sew the edges and still slip the stay down through the cover.

The stay cover sides are folded under and slipped under the pin.  As the cover is pulled under the pin the sides are folded under.  If it is ironed as you fabric is pulled through, the folds will stay nice and sharp.  I put the stay in at the top just to make sure the cover was coming out wide enough.

It comes out looking like bias tape.  

Next step, sewing the stay covers onto the corset.