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I started off with redthreaded's 1750s stays pattern, but I ended up making a variety of modifications to it, so if you follow the same pattern, yours wont look exactly like this.

from most to least drastic, here's what I did:

completely moved the seam between the side front and side back to more accurately reflect historical patterns

realigned the tabs to be even again after I changed the pattern pieces

redrew most of the boning channels- partly because of my seam change, and partly to angle the bones towards the centre more as i thought the front panel stayed too vertical

took in more on the seams around the bust to fit me better

raised the height of the back panels (for no particular reason, I just liked it)

(heres that side seam!)

I made my stays from three layers- my fashion layer, a cotton drill & a coutil to form the structure, and I used light steel bones to bone the entire thing- as I said as I was making it, I've never found synthetic options offer the support I need.

I bound the entire thing with bias binding to match the light parts of the motifs, keeping it as narrow as I felt I could get away with. The tabs were sewn entirely by hand, right and wrong side, and the top edge was hand sewn on the second side. Overall, it took me about 19 hours to do!

The eyelets are all metal except for the four for the straps, which I sewed by hand, since they're far more visible. It was my first time hand sewing eyelets, and I'm pretty happy with how I did :) The ribbon is a placeholder, but I'm not sure what colour to get for the real ones yet.

The back is spiral laced, as was the historical standard- I probably marked them a little closer than needed, but I like the look of it all the same. I've been lacing them upwards as I've found I need the tension around the waist more than the bust. It makes it harder to lace on my own (or at least securing the knot anyway) but I did manage to do it by pulling the lace firmly, then tying a knot, then loosening it back down evenly again.

The horizontal bone is removable- I made the channel by sewing a piece of twill tape (folded in half, but only because that was the width I already had. The bone sits next to the fabric) along the marked lines. The channel went right into the armpit, so I caught one end under the binding, but tucked the other side of the binding under the twill tape (I'd left it a little loose at the end to make this possible) i then hand tacked the end down, leaving open the short side so I can slot in the bone. It's kind of dirty, but I think it should function- there's enough tension through the curve of the channel that I don't think it'll slide back out, but if I have issues ill find a way to secure it in. The bone I've cut is actually a tiny bit too long, as I have to trim that down at some point, as it's almost out enough to poke me.

I think I want to make some pads to support my bust at some point. The stays fit really well after all my modifications, but I don't have a whole ton to work with, and I feel like I could do with a bit more in the front of the stays to really hold everything how I'd like it to be (at least for this costume, anyway) At the moment it almost acts like a binder on me, which whole cool, is not the look I want.

I'm just! I'm so happy with how these came out. When I bought this fabric two years ago, I knew I wanted to make a pair of stays with it, but they've come out better than I could have ever imagined. I'm so proud of myself and what I achieved here, and I'm glad I put in all the extra work into these, instead of just rushing through something to have the garment for the rest of my costume. I think I made something here that stands on its own. I'm just... really proud. I'm going to bask in the glory of these for a while, I think.