Dress under way!

I'm finally making progress on my purple plaid wool dress, rather than just dreaming of it!!
It took longer than I expected it to for me to get the mock-up to fit right, because of course the measurements on the envelope that are supposed to correlate with each size don't actually correlate with that size. For the first mock-up I cut out the size that went along with my measurements when I'm wearing the corset I'll be wearing under the dress. That was way too big. I then cut out another mock-up 4 sizes smaller, and it almost fit, but I still had to take it in some. Finally, with a ton of help from my mom, the mock-up fit perfectly, so. . .
This week I got the dress cut out!!!!

Then I marked where the darts were supposed to be on the bodice and where all the pleats were supposed to be on the bodice overlay and upper sleeves

For that I used wax that disappears when you iron over it, so today I pressed all the pleats into place and no more white marks on my fabric! 

(although I may have a few burnt fingertips, but aren't all those little bitty pleats pretty!)

Then I actually got to start sewing! Yards and yards of piping. . .

I used cotton yarn for the filling of the piping, I was worried it might be a bit narrow, but it's the perfect width! 

Once that was done I started sewing the actual dress together.

Here's half of the back of the bodice, The plaid doesn't match up perfectly, but for my first time attempting to to match plaid I don't think I did to horribly.

I actually have monday completely, totally free (a very rare occurrence), so I'm looking forward to getting a lot done on this dress! Completed purple, plaid, wool, 1840 dress here I come!