Bodice is almost done

After many hours of hand sewing binding, the revers are now on the bodice. I also tried it on over the corset and it fits perfectly! Now I have to sew on 42 buttons and do the hook and eye closure on the front.

I also need to do the collar. It is supposed to have individually cut scallops sewn on and bias bound. What you see in the picture is just a scalloped piece I cut for the sash that is draped in there. I am soooooo tired of hand binding scallops - I estimate I've spent about 20 hours hand sewing between the skirt and the bodice. I am definitely not doing the individual scallops, the thought of that makes me cry, so I think I am going to either use one of the sash pieces or cut a new scalloped piece. The sashes are supposed to be bias bound also, but instead I am going to do them in the black taffeta and use my scalloped scissors because I AM SICK OF BINDING SCALLOPS.

1869 Bodice

I made good progress on my 1869 bodice this weekend. I got the new back fitting nicely, although when I put it on me it's a tiny bit tight in the upper shoulders so I will let out the darts some.

Here's the bodice with the revers clipped on just so I can get an idea of how it will look. Excuse the dark photos, the light isn't the best in the evening in my sewing room.

Then I did the sleeves. I had to bias bind the scallops on the sleeve revers, but thankfully only 5 scallops so it didn't take as long. The plaid fabric made nice binding and I was able to successfully use my little binding gadget at the iron to make perfect binding! I think it's supposed to be a bit thinner but I wanted to match the pre-bought black binding I used on the skirt.

The sleeves look so good! Of course once I sewed them into the bodice, I realized that I put the left sleeve rever on in the wrong spot - it was offset by 180 degrees, so the buttons were at the wrong seam. So, I cursed a bit, then took off the buttons and binding and redid it. Also there was supposed to be an "O" marked on the bodice armscye to line up the sleeve and that was not there. Luckily I was able to use a marked number to get it set correctly.

Next up is to bias bind the revers for the bodice. Ugh. But it's worth it, right?

1869 Skirt Progress

Last weekend I did the basque for my gown, because my seam binding somehow got lost in the mail (thank you Amazon for believing me and giving me a credit) so I couldn't work on the skirt until it came.

I used some old red lining I had laying around for the basque. The directions didn't say to line it but I decided to anyhow. Those ruffles took forever! I started pressing them to hem, then decided it would be really nice to use my scalloped scissors to mirror all the other scallops on the gown. But I remembered that taffeta will fray like crazy, so got out the gum arabic I bought and mixed some up and painted it on the strips before cutting them. And it worked! The edges seem nice and crisp and so far no fraying. I tried not to handle them much when running them through the machine. It came out a tad too small, I forgot this was a 28" finished waist gown and this is the last layer, so I need to do something. I might add a strip and put buttons on each side, or just make buttonholes and button it onto the skirt waistband. And there's a small chance it will just fit after I'm dressed and corseted.

I was hoping to find something in stash to flatline the skirt, but didn't have enough of anything, so I ordered some silk organza. I had trouble with the skirt directions - there were supposed to be pockets between the front and side front seams, but that is impossible given that the front edge is scalloped. I think that there were originally two views for the pattern, one without scallops. I decided just to leave off the pockets. I could put them in the side seams but haven't decided yet if I want to undo the seams. I also found the back to side front seam didn't line up right, although it looks okay on the pattern, so maybe the fabric stretched a bit when I serged the flatlining on. I just trimmed it to fit. It took me 4 hours per side to bias bind the scallops on the front by hand. I figured I would have better control getting around all those curved and pointed edges. 

I had some helpers making sure my skirt pieces didn't blow away.

Pinned onto the dress form - the scallops weren't pressed yet and look terrible here!

It looks MUCH better with the scallops pressed! I got all the buttons on the left side and 8 on the right side before my hands gave out. The skirt pieces are only attached via the buttons. I also got the ruffle on the skirt, using the same method of gum arabic treatment and scalloped scissor edges. It looks so much better in person, for some reason it's hard to photograph. I had some cat "assistance" pinning on the ruffle, Fiona and Bobo both insisted on being under Petunia while I was doing it, and Fiona kept attacking my hands each time I tried to place a pin!

So all that is left is the remaining 18 buttons on the right front, and a waistband. I may just bias bind the upper edge since the basque will be over it, but haven't decided yet.