Renovating My Sheer 1795 Morning Dress: Adding the Skirt, Part 1

Dress front.

Just a short post to show some progress.

Over the past evening or two I set the gathers into the skirt. That meant

• dividing the top of the skirt into multiple sections:
• one section for each side of the front, minimally gathered right at the front, medium gathered at the sides.
• another section for each side back, medium gathered, and ending at the back seam.
• A last section, five inches across the back, for the central fifth or so of the fabric, maximally gathered. The gathers here will be carefully stroked.
• Taking two rows of gathering stitches. For the central back section, each stitch about  a shy1/8" long, for rhe other sections, a little larger. In the last section, just to try it, I used two needles and threads simultaneously, loading up one needleful, leaving the needle in place, then using the second needle to gather up the same amount of stitches in the same spots. It went fast and produced two very even rows.

Then this afternoon, in about 15 minutes' time, I turned over the raw top edge of the skirt to the depth of the first gathered row, and pinned it in place on the dress.

Next steps, arranging the gathers more carefully, and then top-stitching the skirt in place, in an 18th century manner, with little overcast stitches, to the bottom of the bodice.

Here are more pictures:

Beginning to set the skirt.

Pinning the back.

Pulling the gathering strings.

The back.