Corsets, various

I'm starting my new stays today; I've tweaked the pattern from the old stays a little and today I'll have some time to cut them out.  I found some green twill in the stash that will do.  The pattern is the diderot stays from Corsets & Crinolines.  I could have started from scratch with something fancier, but I just want functional.  Plus just having a front and back pattern piece is easier in so many ways.

I used reed last time; I plan to use the Wissner German plastic this time.  I have half a coil of 7mm but I might just buy a coil of the tiny stuff (5mm) since for this I think tinier is better. 

My question for this is how do you apply those crossing horizontal bones in front?  Do you make a separate tape casing?  I can't find the answer to this in any of my books.

The next corset I need to do is Regency.  I plan to try the Laughing Moon pattern, unless I find some really great reviews of the Past Patterns or Mantua Maker ones.

dressform

I'm thinking about buying a Uniquely You dressform.  Here's where I try to justify it:

I had a lot of trouble with the draping aspects of the Pink Cupcake dress (as in, draping the swags of fabric, not the draping method of creating a pattern, as opposed to flat drafting) that I think would have been greatly helped with a dressform.

A lot of people seem to think that a form will solve all their fitting issues, and I realize this is not the case, but there are a lot of other uses!  Placing trims, adjusting hems, visualizing designs, and possibly some construction (like setting a sleeve from the right side) as well as, of course, displaying a finished product, are all things a form could help with. 

Why Uniquely You?  Well, a foam form is more adjustable and it's corset-able.  I liked Fabulous Fit but this one is way cheaper.  I feel comfortable with hacking it up or adding more padding if necessary.

I read several reviews; most helpful were here and here.  

Any thoughts?  Does anyone have a form they love or hate, and what do you use it for?