An 1860's Gathered-Front Day Dress: Part Two

Part Two: Bodice Construction

The bodice is coming along nicely. I decided to sew this dress mostly by hand. The fabric is a reproduction cotton print from Maggie May Clothing. I snapped up 8 yards on sale for $6 a yard! It's a fun little print in a color I don't have. I tend to like the color blue…

Here are the two completed front pieces. The bodice closes at the center front with hooks and eyes.

I've been sewing by hand whilst sitting in front of my lowered ironing board. It makes for a handy table  :)

Here is the back of the bodice. For some reason, the fashion fabric ended up a good bit smaller than the lining. I ended up piecing a little strip on the side where there was the most difference. On a funny note, the seat of my stool lines up perfectly with the neck of the bodice :p

Here's the sleeveless bodice on my form

A closeup of the topstitching on the back of the bodice 

I made up a good bit of bias strips to turn into piping. I sewed along the cotton yarn with my sewing machine's zipper foot. I may be crazy, but sewing long, straight seams is not one of the crazy rings I like to do :p

One sleeve mostly finished. The neck and waist have also been piped

I decided not to add the epaulet at the top of the sleeves. 

The finished bodice!

A closeup of the cuffs. I couldn't decide what color buttons to use, so I found red buttons, white buttons and black buttons in my stash that all matched.  I couldn't find any green that were the right color. I compared them all and found that I liked the black buttons better than white or red. The buttonholes are hand stitched.