Woman’s stays of cream silk taffeta, lined with the same, sewn with silk thread, bound and laced with ⅜-inch (8 mm) wide ivory silk grosgrain ribbon. They have a high neckline, narrow at the back and wide at the front and shoulder straps fastening at the back with 3 worked lacing holes on each side. The stays reach to the natural waist, with squared skirts below. They are cut in 4 pieces, with a gore inserted at the waist on each side at the back. The centre-front seam is open three-quarters down from the neckline and laced with ribbon and 11 worked lacing holes on each side. The stays fasten at the back with 11 worked lacing holes on each side. There is a pair of worked lacing holes at the waist on each side. There is a 11/16 -inch (1.7 cm) wide channel for a whalebone [baleen] strip on each side of the centre front and a ¼-inch (6 mm) wide channel on each side of centre back. These have been cut top and bottom to remove the boning, and then stitched closed.