Regency Short Stays, finished.

I recently finished my short stays and I am pretty pleased! This is the first time I've only done an entire hand sewn garment. GO ME!

Pattern: It is a self drafted pattern based off of the Sense and Sensibility "Regency Underthings"
Fabrics: I have no clue what the outside fabric is, but it is like canvas. The binding is the same "canvas-y" fabric. They are lined with muslin.
Other Materials: 14 Zip-ties for boning, hand quilting thread
Time: Patterning, 20 min. Fitting the gussets, 2 1/2 hours. Sewing, MANY MANY HOURS. Binding, 6 hours.
Stitches: Mainly saddle stitches, except the binding.
Cost: $2 mystery fabric + $1 muslin + $1.50 thread + $2 zip ties= $6.50 total.

Here's some more pics and then I'll talk more about it.

Sorry again.

What I like:
It is amazingly comfortable. It is quite effective. It was a relatively fast project (if done by sewing machine). It was relatively easy, being my first run with gussets. It has a pretty back. Some of my stitches turned out fabulous, after I got the hang of it.
What I'm okay with:
It's an odd color of creme. There's some puckeryness around/on the gussets. Ironing took a while to navigate the zip-ties/bones.

What I would do different:
I would have used 3 layers of fabric, to prevent the puckery. Used a fabric that I could identify. I would have made it a little smaller. Make sure that the front was even (it goes slightly downhill on the right side).

What I'm going to do: 
I plan to do some flossing on the stays in a light blue or just a white, but I'm still not sure how accurate that would be?

Some pretty stitches

Thanks for reading!

What to choose?

So, I'm kind-of in limbo for the tea. We still have not set up a date for the Jane Austen Tea Party but I want to figure out which dress I'm going to choose? Here are are the possible ventures:

Danish gown from a Danish Museum :)

 This dress is absolutely gorgeous. I would love to make it eventually but I'm not sure if I want it to be my first Regency gown or something more "normal"?

screencap from www.janeausten.info

I really like Marianne's dresses... ugh, decisions decisions...

Regency Short Stays, in progress

A few of my friends and I have decided to have a Regency era Tea Party where we will all make our own outfits and wear them during the tea. On Monday I started on my ensemble, and this is how far I've gotten:

Sorry for the explicit nature of this picture.

I based them off of this picture on Flickr. They are completely hand-stitched, with muslin lining and zip-ties for boning. Pretty good for 3 days of work. I've yet to sew the straps, button holes and binding but I do plan on getting that done this weekend. I was also thinking about adding light blue flossing to make it a little prettier, but not sure how accurate that would be.

My initial goal was to get by with little-to-no boning, and thought that maybe cording would be better, but I found that without the boning it was far to flimsy. The diagonal bones under the bust really make a difference in the shape and support.

This was also my first run when it comes to gussets. They're actually not that hard! I was so surprised after finishing them. The hardest and longest part was the fitting to get the right shape.

I also decided to add some stability to the back of the stays to make it feel better and I think it adds a little more visual interest as well.

So about the flossing/embroidery, does anyone know when it start appearing on corsets/stays?