1840s stays!

Hi! Here are some pictures of my late 1830's-early 1840's stays at last!! A little reminder: I made these stays for a ''Young Victoria'' style dress That I have yet to make. I used this 1820-1840's corset pattern, but with a few modifications, because I want to make an off-shoulders dress. I took away the shoulder straps, and added some boning down the back and side back seams. All of it is entirely hand sewn and hand embroidered, and all the eyelets are hand made. I used two paint sticks for the busk, and steel boning where needed. The fabrics I used are cotton for the outer layers and linen for the inner layers, for a total of 2 layers, plus twill tape at the waist. I also corded part of the corset as well as all the seams. 

And now for the pictures!!

The chemise I'm wearing underneath is not the one I'll be using in the final costume. I haven't made that one yet, but I've already scaled the pattern and it's ready for cutting. 

I used double face satin ribbon for the lacing. 

Here you can see some of the embroidery! You may notice that the fabric buckles a little bit... maybe it's because of the fabric choice, or I might not have payed enough attention when I made the mockup. I'll know better next time. Still, I'm quite proud of the general result!

Please try not to pay any attention to my horrible black jeans! I haven't made my period pantaloons or petticoats yet!

I hope you like it! I especially like the last few pictures with the sunflowers. As for my 18th century pirate/hippy costume, it's almost done!! I'll finish it tomorrow, the only thing left to do is to hem the skirt and set the waistband on the corded petticoat!