Proper Measures

Pennyslvania Chronicle, September 19, 1772

Mr. White has moved his shop and is taking care to inform his old customers of his new location in the most polite manner. He is also ready to take orders from the country requiring proper measure taken of the length and width of the stays to be made, both the top and bottom and front and back parts. Can we assume these measures are taken from existing stays? Also of interest is the image in his advertisement. Note the curve of the back piece of the stays, this curve accommodates the indentation of the waist. The lacing on the front of the stays is very typical of the 1750s and 1760s stays, it is not functional, purely decorative.