Truly Victorian Parisian Trained Skirt 219 Part 1

Front panels of skirt and Apron

The instructions for this pattern are a little confusing but basically they want you to break it up into two parts, decorate those parts and do all the finishing work then sew them together between the side seam and the bustle/train piece. 

To start with, take pieces A, B, and C, plus the two aprons. I chose to only do the top apron but the pattern calls for a top and bottom apron.  Yes, it seems weird, but it was 4 am and my sleepless brain thought it was a good idea, along with thinking that the skirt would look cute with a touch of assymetry which was totally acceptable during the 1870's. I guess you could say "we're not in the civil war era anymore toto". Bad jokes aside, lets dig in to the Truly Victorian Skirt 219 

Sew together A, and B. This will give you the base skirt which the aprons will be attached to.

 Cut the apron pieces and hem the bottom. It is easier to hem before it is sewn on to the base skirt. 

Measure out the spacing for pleats, I like to mark mine with pins, then fold the fabric so that the fold of fabric matches up with the pins. 

pleat the like this, 

And end up with somthing like this. Please ignore the pale alien feat, but hey, at least I didn't flash my ankles. I'm not a complete hussy after all ;) 

Ta da! Your apron should look something like this. I sewed along both sides before attaching to the skirt. I put in  a couple tacking stitches in the middle to help the pleats hold shape. My silk did not want to hold its shape and honestly if  I ironed it any more it was going to turn into a French Fried Parisian Skirt. (get it cause Parisian if french, hahaha, nevermind)

Sew the apron or aprons to the front of the A/B piece. These will all be sewn together into the Side piece C. Now after all that work, the pattern absolutely requires that one goes and gets at least four oreos to celebrate. Okay, I added that part, but anyone who gets this far deserves it! and if you are feeling really fancy, you can even throw in a glass of milk to dip the cookies in. Now take a deep breath and  get ready for the real fun part! the bustle and train dun dun dun.