Sky Blue 1770s Gown: The Bodice

I finished making up the bodice of my new 18th century gown, and I feel I must gush a bit.  Not over anything I did particularly well, but over the Incredibly Wonderful Slipstitch found on the stitchery blog (now sadly--though not so sadly given the circumstances--in archive only) Stay-ing Alive.  Abby demonstrated a sweet slipstitch that joins lining and fashion fabric in one fell swoop, is documented to the 18th century, and produces just an eensy ridge on the interior of the garment.  (More on the nitty gritty how-to with fab tutorial here: http://stay-ingalive.blogspot.com/2011/03/how-to-do-weird-running-whip-stitch.html)

You guys.  This stitch is so much fun.

For one, thought I love handsewing, my time is pretty limited nowadays, and I don't have the luxury of spending hours and hours on a single project (well, I do, but only if I want one gown to take months to make).  This means one row of stitches instead of about seven, saving me time while I indulge my handsewing itch.

Exterior shot (it looks incredibly funky laid flat, but I swear it looks normal on stays on my dressmaker's dummy):

And the interior, where you can see the fun lines of stitching:

The skirt is cut and assembled, but not yet hemmed...I dislike hemming.  I may cheat and machine sew the skirt hems, because...well, sometimes a funky slipstitch can save you time and sometimes trusty old Edith, my sewing machine, is a better bet.  I've completed the arms and am planning to set them this week--whee!  And then skirt hemming and joining, finishing and trimming...so much more to do!