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November 2024 – Stays Edition

Categories: Previous Events

The Corsetry Retreat – Stays edition

Tutors – Ruth Watkin and Emma Brackenbury

The Corsetry Retreat – Stays Edition will be held in Caer Beris Manor, a grade II listed building in Wales, UK.

The Corsetry Retreat, stays edition, includes a full schedule of workshops with experienced tutors, chance to examine original garments, as well as time to relax in the historic surroundings, meet with like-minded people, and unwind in the hall’s hot tub and sauna or in the lounge and game’s rooms.

Each day will be focussing on a different skill set.

  • Day one will be pattern drafting using historical methods and creating the iconic shape of stays, as well as a chance to examine extant stays from the Leicester archives up close from with experts on hand to answer any questions.
  • Day two will consist of toiling and fitting to ensure your stays fit you perfectly.
  • Day three will focus on construction techniques where we will look at a range of methods from hand sewing to machine sewn and you can sample all the techniques you might want to use, or you can simply use the time to start constructing your stays.
Book the November 2025 Stays event here
A cream Stay made by Emma Brackenbury. The Photographer is Richard Marsden.

Around the scheduled workshops Emma and Ruth will also be on hand throughout the day to help troubleshoot your existing projects so please bring along your problem children if you’d like advice on what’s gone wrong (don’t worry they don’t judge).

Included in the price of your room will be a private bathroom, four evening meals, three days of workshops, two experienced tutors on hand for guidance throughout, and a swap table for the exchange of materials and embellishments.

New for 2024, we will have Sarah Nicol, curator from The Symington Archive: held by Leicestershire Museum Collections, bringing us extant stays for you to examine up close and answer and of your questions on how they might have been constructed.

You’ll also have use of the hall’s spa facilities and the communal areas for socialising.

In addition, we will provide all materials needed for the workshops including coutil, boning and busks, flossing threads and eyelets.

For more information on future events please click below.

Future Events
  • 7 women sat next to each other. They are turning and laughing to each other. Behind them are mannequins with corsets on them.

  • Photograph of the front of Caer Beris manor. with the drive leading up to the entrance. The building is a mock Tudor arts and crafts period house with black wood and white walls.

  • A woman is sat behind a table that has corsets and corset making tools on it. Behind her is a large, wooden panelled wall with dining chairs and a yellow stay on a stand.

  • A close up of someone wearing a Stays mock-up. Their back is towards the camera and they are looking forwards into a mirror where you can also see the reflection of the person taking the picture in it.

  • A close up of corset drawings on pattern paper. There is a ruler on one of the pages, and someone's arms on the left of the image that are drawing onto another piece of paper.

  • 2 women looking at a piece of acetate on a table which is over an old yellow historical garment. 1 has dark hair and is wearing all black and the other has brown, short hair and is wearing a grey top while holding a mobile phone.

  • 9 women sat around a large, oblong table. The camera is taken from behind the heads of 2 of the women that are sat at one end. The table has lots of paper, books, and pencils on it.

  • A close up photograph of a yellow Stays made that is very old and has pink flowers on it. The Photographer is Saxkjaer Photography.

  • Several Books are on a deep shelf that is in front of shelves that are also containing books. They are mostly about corsetry.

  • A closeup photograph of someone's arms and hands that are drawing a corset pattern onto a piece of paper.

  • 3 women are sat on one side of a table. A 4th woman is stood up behind one of them women in the middle and is leaning over to point at their work. Everyone is watching.

  • A sofa is in the background. In the foreground is a table with a cutting mat on it and a pattern draft of a corset.

See the Schedule

4th to 8th November 2024 - The Corsetry Retreat - Stays Edition

Want to ask about booking, or just got a question?

Just drop us a message below and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.