One of the first things about historical costuming is that in order to get each time period’s look right, you have to start with the underpinnings – all the supportive undergarments that give your body the right shape. These underthings allow you to make clothes to fit their shape and look authentic.

For the 18th century, this means stays, and they seem to be the hardest thing to make. To procrastinate on making them, after an overstimulating couple of weeks researching my stays pattern options, construction, and hacks for the pattern I eventually chose, I freaked out and decided to make a set of jumps first.

In the video tutorial I used, the vlogger refers to jumps as the sports bra of the 18th Century. I’m all about function and comfort, and jumps are a site better looking than a sports bra.I started with a Juste au corps pattern, which is a fitted jacket from the 1700’s. I got it from Amazon Dry Goods, which is a fantastic site to get lost on if you have a thing for history, a good imagination, and are sick of regular Amazon.

I planned to use the jacket pattern without the sleeves for a fitted, sleeveless bodice. After I read the instructions for the pattern, I realized this was an intended use of the pattern, which took a tiny bit of thunder out of my amazing idea. I would use the zip ties I got to use for my stays to add a little structure.

I started by cutting white cotton broadcloth and cutting my pattern pieces with about 3/4 inch extra around the edges to give me room for fitting. I consulted with someone at Amazon Dry Goods about pattern size and she’d recommended size 8 (pattern sizing, especially historical pattern sizing, is super, duper weird). When the pattern came, it said size 8 was a 32″ chest, and I’m 34″, so I was thinking I’d need a little more wiggle room.

Most or all of the extra fabric I started with ended up in the seam allowance. I probably could have gone with a straight size 8, but doing the fitting was good experience. The pattern was a little short-waisted for me, so I lengthened the bottom of the side and back seams by about an inch, and did a high round back adjustment like I did for my Wiksten shift top. I also took a bite out of the shoulder seams.

The finished jumps have a little extra room at the waist, which allows the whole garment to shift upward when I slouch, which I tend to. Jumps are good about reminding one to sit up straight.

With my bodice pieces fitted, I cut a second layer of cloth, the front pieces in canvas for support, and the back more cotton broadcloth, lined it with batting I had leftover from baby quilts, and machine-quilted it.I added boning channels of scrap fabric. If I make a similar garment again, I would add one or two more boning channels on the front panels to add a little more support – I’ll probably be wearing this with a bra anyway, but the positioning of the boning channels kind of flank the girls rather than hold them in place. The placement of the back boning is perfect.

I hand-felled the seams, which is a little silly because they don’t show, but I enjoyed doing it and used rainbow thread. The seams that had been felled open would be under some stress because the jumps are so fitted, so I did decorative stitching with red sashiko thread to reinforce them. I had ordered two twin-sized kantha quilts from eBay to use for my historical sewing, and chose one of them for the outer layer of my jumps. I liked the colors, and the pattern reminded me of the photos of historically accurate clothing I’d been looking at.

After I was finished, I found this photo of a traditional outfit worn by women in Slovakia, which is where my grandfather hails from – I visited his hometown when I was 16 with my dad and sister. The bodice she’s wearing reminds me of the jumps I made and it felt cosmic. Since kantha is made out of old saris hand-stitched together, it had a looser weave than my inner quilted layer, so I had to do some additional fitting to get the outer layer to fit properly, then I hand sewed it in place. After I finished sewing it in, I ended up picking out the neckline to widen and lower it. I patterned the lacing holes after The Zen of Spiral Lacing, and I hand-finished them with golden brown sashiko thread.  I meant to reverse the pattern of the lacing holes because I’m left handed, but I lost my train of thought and started it mirror image and finished it the way it’s shown on the site. Once finished, I put on the jumps right away and started lacing them, which went south fast. I did a serviceable but completely wrong job (they wouldn’t stay snugly laced), and our family raced out the door to go somewhere. Later, I found this video, which in addition to being mesmerizing, solved all my problems. For now, the jumps are laced with 1/8″ twill tape, but if I’m feeling fancy, I can replace that with ribbon. The tabs around the skirt have a tendency to curve outward. Maybe because I didn’t totally remove my extra seam allowance from the tabs. Or, because the lining fabric has a lot more body than the outer fabric. I may tuck them in a little tighter and resew them in. Maybe it’s just a matter of ironing them flat. I’ll probably troubleshoot it at some point, or it will stop bothering me.

The other adjustment I will make soon is to slice some fabric off the front of the armcyes – they cut into me when I reach forward, which as a mom, is all the time. A quick online search for photos of period clothing confirm this as being an accurate change. I have worn these in public several times, they are reversible, and they look like the clothes my ancestors in Slovakia might have worn. I wanted individual pieces I could style with my modern clothing, and this was a total win.

As so often happens with handmade clothing, after wearing this for a full day, I knew I’d need to make the alterations I mentioned above, plus a few more – I adjusted the armcyes and the neckline, added boning to the edges of the front just in front of the lacing holes, and tucked in curling tabs I mentioned above. With the changes, it would probably appear the same to anyone who looked at it, but it’s much more comfortable now.

Then I decided I was going to jump ship on the 18th century temporarily to outfit my entire family in Early Victorian garb for a local costuming event… so the jumps will have to remain a stand-alone piece for a little while longer until I’m able to come back to the 1700’s with the attention it deserves.