Getting There

Progress continues on my Ceil Chapman project.

Instead of adding a lining to an already intricate design, I decided to go the easy route and underline as suggested by the instructions. 

The back skirt drape, which I initially thought was tacked on top of a fitted skirt or attached with a belt, turns out to be part of the actual design and held at the center back with two internal “lining” pieces.  I do not agree with the description, and would consider those pieces a "stay" to help the soft pleats remain in their proper place.

After living on my dress form for a couple of days, the pleated section started to drop (not very surprising as it is cut on the bias).  I find straightening a hemline to be a tedious process, so doing a bit here and there in between more interesting parts of construction helps to make it less painful.

To keep the bodice lining neck edge from stretching, I added a length of seam binding and stitched just inside the seam allowance.

And I ended up replacing the given neckline facing with a bias strip of my bemberg lining.  

This midweight wool is probably a little on the heavy side for this design (the sleeves were my first hint) so adding more bulk with a wool facing did not seem like a great idea.

For raw edges that were too bulky for a single fold of seam binding, I used two.  Two lengths were applied, one on each side of the seam, at which point the top edges were stitched shut with a zig-zag stitch.  This process was used on the waistline seam as well as the armhole edges.

This is really starting to look like a dress!