Bodice bits.

Last night I finished the bottom edge and the armscyes of my sottana. The lining is some scrap grey wool over felt Pellon, which looks pretty bland next to the red damask, but no one's gonna be seeing it anyway.

I wanted to share a picture, but I think I'll wait until I have the black velvet trim finished.

And then there's nothing left but shaping the skirt hem (I left the back longer to make a small train, only six inches or so) adding the black velvet guard and attaching the skirt to the bodice.

I have some gold and black jacquard ribbon that was too garish to use as an outright trim -- too busy over the damask -- but I'm thinking if I fold it in half lengthwise and stitch it behind the velvet so maybe only a quarter-inch peeps out, it might be a little bit of oomph that makes this gown *pop*.

I got all excited and pinned the shoulder straps in place and tried it on, but without my corset on to get everything in the right places and correct posture, and without fastenings on the front of the bodice, it was really hard to see if I was on the right track. I will say that I have some concerns about the armscyes: I don't think they're big enough. Either that or the straps are too short, because I get a bunchy feeling there. I can probably lengthen the straps with cleverly-attached bits of "decorative" velvet. I hope so, because other than that, everything looks really good.

Also, I love making garments that look as good on the inside as they do on the outside. Finish work FTW!