Truly Victorian 405 Vest Basque

 

The bodice at its basics is a back, two side pieces, and a darted front. The part that gets tricky is that snazzy little tail on the back that gives the bodice its uniqueness. When sewing the side back to the back piece, the stitch line stops where we can see the dotted lines above. 

Like this

Hee hee, my mockup has wings!

Next step is the side (not side back).

Sew the front on. I did not do the darts yet, those will be adjusted after putting on the front of the vest. The instructions call for the front pieces to be sewn under, then the vest added. The idea is to give the impression of layers with the main body on top and the fake vest being underneath

The instructions call for the ends of the back piece to be tucked under itself like this and then hand stitched down to the lining across the top of the tail. this will create a really cool layering effect. My suggestion is to hem it before this step. This blog has some really cool pictures that show up better than mine of how its supposed to look. http://sportandfashion-news.blogspot.com/2011/12/1872-red-black-checked-bustle-gown.html

I didn't like how that looked so I did some chop and trim to make a different shape

.... and accidentally made the bottom of an iron cross, oops. But now that I see it,its all I can think when I look at it now. 

The vest pieces are sewn lining to the fashion fabric and then turned inside out. I put buttonholes on it, but hook and eye would look great too! Then I added the vest pieces to the main bodice and added lace to the neckline. 

Now on to the sleeves!