Ham

Back to bodices. I traced off a few upper edges and tried to think about what to do with them.

In place of basting, I just folded the lines together, hit it with the iron and then  sewed.

Since these are darts, I pressed them on the curve of the ham to give them the shape and to make it easier to get that transition from the point of the dart to the smooth fabric that should be after it.

The picture might not show it so well, but I just went ahead and sewed two together with the darts pressed to either side of the line, for general flatness. Putting the two curved pieces on the lines was a little trickier, but not too bad. If you think of the black line in three sections, you can sew from one to the next to the next with a minimum of turning. This helps to arrange it flat at each turn as you sew.

Guess who sewed wrong sides together? I could swear I had a reason at the time. Then out came the pinking shears to trim away the excess for turning.

No real reason to use them on this test, but they were there. They will probably get used on the real dresses some since there will be no serging. WWSKD?

It seems like it won't cause too much bulk to have these points here, but there's more to think about.

Looking at the piece on Lucy, I noticed the seam allowance through the muslin, and got to thinking that maybe running some petersham or something along that edge would help with the clean edge. It could also provide something to understitch to on the inside to keep the seamline out of sight.

Of course, this would probably also involve a band/facing of the outer fabric on the inside to attach the lining to.

Ideally, I would just fold over a wide allowance on the front piece to make a facing of sorts, but I just don't know if this can be done in a way that's clean looking inside and out. There should be some old clearance 4 ply silk crepe around here so maybe I'll try making up a front bodice test to see what can be done. I think the ribbon defined edge sounds like a good idea but I think the folding and mitering of the fabric is what will determine the final choice. I would trade some non-outwardly visible seaming choices to get that clean top edge I think.