1780 Half boned stays in linen

So, it seems  I'll spend this year sewing 18th century costumes! Whoa! 

Due to the high demand of Outlander reproductions I considered the idea to set some corsets for the public. I'm not a corset maker but 18th century stays are really attractive and easier to draft so I accepted the challenge. 

If compared to my previous Diderot stays, this one is less boned but it's better constructed. It is made of three layers (linen, cotton canvas and cotton for the lining) with hand sewn cotton bias tape (no more poly satin here!) and metal grommets. I wanted to set hand sewn eyelets as default option but the price would have been too high - so customers can choose. 

The corset is made of burgundy linen (I had enough in my stash) and I used as reference an extant corset from V&A musem dated about 1770-1790. My version has separated straps to be easily adjusted to the figure and no contrasting tape on seams, plus I went for front lacing to put it on by my own.

Detail of the binding

The corset has spiral lacing with satin ribbon. It is really supportive and doesn't tighten the waist as some Victorian monsters I wore in the past; the gap in the center front is period correct. I used zip ties as boning as suggested by many historical costumers. As usual, binding the tabs took most of the working process.
The low neckline is made to accommodate cleavage and to support the bust, pushing it upwards.  

I didn't take so much photos of the building process but it went together really easily and nicely. 

These stays are listed on my Etsy shop and are available in 7 standard sizes and in multiple colours.

Let me know what do you think!