1860s sewing

I've been working on a few different things for Gettysburg this week (started putting together a chemise to wear with my ballgown, got the construction of Not-For-Me Bonnet No.1 underway), but mainly sewed stripes on my paletot.

Endless, endless stripes.

But hey! I finished sewing the last stripe today, so now I can think about doing...the pockets. Or the collar. Or the front closures. Or the piping. OH, THE PIPING.

Anywho. Pictures!

Doofy-looking sleeves. I'll attach them last, just cause it's easier to work without those things flopping all around.

Earlier in the week, with just two stripes sewn on.

And now LOOK AT ALL THOSE STRIPES!

The stripes are some dark-brown cotton velveteen I had in the Stash - cut on the bias because, well, look at that skirt. It would be having no parts of straight grains. And the stripes are all sewn on by hand, because there's no way I'd be able to get that bias to play nicely going through a machine. Plus machine stitching would be really obvious and horrible-looking.

I admit I'm not 100% pleased with how the thing looks when it's actually on, over the hoop - the skirt's a bit too full in the back (I was afraid of making it too skimpy when I was fitting it!), and the velveteen makes the whole thing a bit stiff, so it stands out kind of weirdly. But it's pretty much un-fixable at this point without totally deconstructing it - and that ain't happening. I can live with a bit of skirt weirdness!