well oops

[elizabeth_mn]

You know when you are sailing along and everything seems to be clicking and falling perfectly into place?

This is a red flag. Nothing is ever that easy.

I assembled my bodice tonight, and it's looking great, but I forgot to put the piping in the side back and shoulder seams. Since I wanted piped edges, it may look incongruous to have left it out of the seams.

Tomorrow will tell whether I rip it out or if I just don't care.

Comments

[nuranar.livejournal.com]

You've tagged this 1860s; are you copying anything in particular? Because piping in any seam but the armholes is pretty unusual by the 1860s. It was most common in the 1840s, I think. By the 1860s it's virtually always in the armholes and finishing the neck and waist, but that's it. I'd skip it.

Oh, and the side back seams (you mean the long curved ones, right?) are often topstitched. That might give a little more interest without doing something usual like piping.

(I just remembered hearing that some very delicate sheers in the 1860s might have piping in the seams, to reinforce them. But just now I can't actually remember seeing an example.)

ETA: Sorry I missed your earlier post! If you're not wanting to copy a particular original, *definitely* skip piping in the seams. You'll be a LOT more typical of the decade. :)

[ashamanja-babu.livejournal.com]

You're right (of course); as soon as I had posted this I did a little more digging. I guess all those piped seams for CW era are a reenactor-ism. That must have been where I got the idea from.

Thanks!

[nuranar.livejournal.com]

Sure thing! I don't even think it's a reenactorism (at least, not as widespread as others I can think of) but I think I've seen a few costumers do it because it looks cool or they blend it with earlier decades. Or they're copying Mary Todd Lincoln's famous (and very high fashion) purple velvet dress.

[atherleisure.livejournal.com]

If you mean neck and waist when you say edges, I definitely don't think it will look odd to skip the seams. I'd just do the neck, waist, and armscyes and leave the seams as they are. (If it were the 1830's, it might be different.)