Last Few Stitches on the Green Gown

This has been an exciting sewing week. Not only is the green gown complete, my American Duchess shoes arrived! Here are some photos featuring the gown's last few stitches.

The pleated pinned road is all prick stitched in place.

I'm generally happy with how the pleats and seams came together. However I was frustrated by the bulk of fabric that's created from the wool, which you can kind of see here. It was trickier than usual to line up the pleats and sew them in place. 

Next time I will cut my fabric into smaller panels. Instead of cutting my fabric--which is typically 60 inches wide--into two 30 inch panels, I will cut them into three 20 inch panels. Not only will this be more appropriate to the 18th century (as period looms were around 20 inches wide) it will result in skinnier skirt panels...which means less pleating, a little less hemming, and being more economical. 

The shoulder strap was top stitched to the sleeve. I could only make one pleat. 

This time I placed it at the top of the shoulder, instead of just behind the shoulder, which was inspired by one of the V&A miniature portraits.

I ended up using two kinds of lining as I tried to use scraps that I had handy.

The gown waiting for its hem.

And the new shoes!

I loooove that heel! 

Overall I think it came out fairly well. 

Up next: finishing the brown camlet petticoat.