17th c. Jacket - Progress on the Final

With my client's 17th c. jacket toile back, unpicked, and the pattern altered, I cut into the lovely burgundy wool, and began putting the final piece together, starting with the gussets.

My what lovely gussets.  I machine stitched the lining and outer gussets fabrics together, then turned under and pressed the edges of the bodice pieces, where the gussets would be placed.  The gussets are hand sewn in (top-stitched), using backstitch, on the outside, and I will turn, press, and hand sew the lining into place on the inside using a whip-stitch.

The edges of the slashes, turned back and pressed.

Hand sewing always seems to go quicker in front of the TV, which in this case is Hulu.com on my laptop.

Next step, I'm going to make the sleeves in their entirety (outer+lining), and sew them to the bodice, before doing the bodice lining, which will be flat-lined.  Then on to the front placket, alllll those buttonholes and self-covered buttons (15 of them), and the last little bit of goodness is to turn up the hem with a bit of bias cut out of the red wool.  Sounds easy, huh?

I must remember that the jacket will no longer fit the dress form exactly, as it is now fitting my client, according to the changes she made on her toile.  I must trust the pattern now!