Sneak Peek of the 1914 dress!

Yes, ladies! Progress is being made. It has been one of those projects where it has been hard to stop working on it and do something else . . .for instance, go to bed. ;)

The lace overlay is kind of along the lines of a princess-seamed jumper, but with the curved hemline and seams going into the shoulder rather than at the bust. It is supposed to be lined, but why line it when I want to see the gold silk underneath the bodice and skirt? Since the skirt is a separate piece than the rest which you saw in my previous post, I had to lining the bodice of the lace dress with the silk and only to the length of a waistline. Since it would be worn with a belt over all, who would know?

Only you and I. ;)

I serged the seams of the silk bodice lining to look "professional" though not a period correct-approved method, but when I came to sewing the lace, I did not want a serger finished seam to be seen. I chose to do french-seams so there would be no chance of unraveling or an untidied appearance.

I'll be doing this to the shoulder seams and side seams which I haven't sewed yet. I'll probably either turn up the hem a couple of times or do a roll hem with my serger, instead of the pattern's facing pieces for the skirt so as to not see 2" to 3" of fabric at the hem on the underside. Make sense? If not, that's okay. ;)

For the sleeves I've been going back and forth. I went ahead and cut out the long sleeves that came with the pattern using the lace fabric (and not doing the embellishments on the sleeves). Now that the majority of the dress IS sewn, I'm wondering if perhaps I should do 3/4 length sleeves? Or I even thought of doing silk cap sleeves with the lace long sleeves (seems like I saw this or something similar on Downton Abbey...) over it. What would you do? or what would you prefer to wear? or would that last idea be not period accurate?

I still have yet to sew the belt (confession: I folded the fabric, and pinned it in the back to Arabella), finish off the neckline with the facings, put in the back zipper, and then I think this dress will be finished! Can hardly wait to wear it. :)