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?