Sleeping Beauty Gown Coming Together

Starting to look purty. The frontispiece is piped and set in with the side fronts. Picture above shows one lower sleeve cape together and basted at the top. The other side shows the velvet sleeve cape lining with bias piping basted on ready for the fashion fabric.

Get over it. You must always baste velvet if you don't want to drive yourself to an early happy hour. Piping is a real boon when sewing a pile or nap fabric to a smooth surface fashion cloth. The basted on piping wont let the smooth fabric walk or travel because both smooth surfaces are together rather than velvet to smooth. The basting keeps your piping in place. After you've sewn your two pieces together, the piping helps you turn a super crisp edge.

Here's the sleeve cape with the gold soutache braid hand stitched in place. Why by hand? No sewing lines show on your exposed lining. The bodice is stitched to the backs at shoulders and one one side. As this is a lace up gown and a piece used for theatre, I'm adding a side seam zipper for ease of getting it on and off. Even though there's no quick changes, lacing a bazillion holes is not a quick closure and you need help with it.

Today I finish the bodice back darts and put the sleeve cap and lower sleeve together to ready them for the lower sleeve capes. The lining is together and ready for boning.