5 Days Before the Ball -- Food Poisoning Strikes

(Note: Apparently, I miscounted the number of days. I've fixed my count of this post & the previous posts.)

It's five days before the Ball and I've come down with a mild case of food poisoning from Sunday night's dinner. Go figure. I feel perfectly fine, except every now and then, I had to quickly run to the bathroom. Luckily, my sewing table is a mere three steps from it. So, I got a little bit more done on the bodice than I had anticipated, because, originally, fencing practice was scheduled for the evening and I had anticipated a cursory sewing as a result.

Before I started working on the bodice, I did take steps to take care of myself --- getting some bland comfort food and making a big batch of fresh ginger syrup for home made ginger ale, which helps settle my stomach.

Then I started sewing the front panels. I had already pre-cut the fashion fabric and the interlining. Because the pattern contains darts, I sewed the darts for each piece separately before flat-lining them into one piece. It's a bit tedious work, but is the optimal way to deal with darts.

Oh, if you ever wonder why bust darts? Because it really does help create an appropriate shape for a woman's breasts in the fabric. The above photo shows the darts holding up the fabric into a cup on its own. The stiffer interfacing really helps showcase the power of darts. ;-)

Once the front pieces were appropriately flat-lined, I stitched the front & side pieces together. I very much love my walking foot!!

After the main body was put together, I knew I would have to bone a couple of the seams so that the waist won't ride up and the look remains period for the late 1890s. 

I went through my bone-bag (full of steel bones of various sizes) and pulled out the appropriate sizes for a few key areas -- side seams and the center front.

After choosing the appropriate bones, I created bone casings out of bias tape and hand-sewed them to the flattened seam allowances.

Here's the front of the bodice. I still have to press out a few seams and trim the seam allowances appropriately

And just a reminder what the back looks like...

I didn't get much else done due to the aforementioned illness, but it's good slow progress. Things left to do:

1. Finalize the front bodice pieces.
2. Sew the front bodice to the rest
3. Add grosgrain ribbon around the neck
4. Sew lining & fabric together
5. Add trim (somewhat optional)
6. Add closure.
7. Sew a new waistband onto the skirt.

I'm sure I'm forgetting a few things from this list and will add to it as I work at this outfit.