The bodice is finished

The final piece of chiffon was applied to the bodice last evening (or rather very early this morning).  Just to recap, the bodice shell is made from the silk/cotton fabric and is underlined with silk organza.  Gathered strips of silk chiffon are applied to the shell to give it a draped effect.  1 and 2/3 yards of silk chiffon were used in the construction of the bodice.

Here is the front view.

This is the side where the chiffon piece were pieced together.

This is the back view.

I used hand stitches to maintain the gathers.  Some of these stitches will be removed once the bodice and the skirt are joined together and I can see how the chiffon drapes.

Overall, this was a lot hand sewing.  My hope is that at the end of the day, the hand sewn stitches will be invisible and you will  only see the drape of the fabric.

Hand sewing is about as exciting to report on in a blog as paint drying.  So to spice it up a little bit, here are some pictures of the flowers blooming in my garden.

These are lady slippers, an orchid that grows wild in our neighborhood.  These are on the hill in front of our house.