The Line Up & the Stitch

Finished! 7 hours, 24 minutes later and the entire collection of boning channels on the front stomacher panel is (hand) sewn! I'd count the individual channels, but that would be bragging.

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and the close-up because I'm just so damned proud of myself!
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I started in the center and worked from there. Then, because my sewing improved greatly over the course of the channels, I removed & re stitched the center line. I have never been one to do much hand sewing. In fact this is the most consistent hand sewing that I've ever done. By the end of this project, I'll be rather accomplished I think.

Now it's obviously "hand sewn". As someone said once, more sailor made than tailor made. I'm blaming the fact that I even considered this on Toria. She was the one who questioned whether I'd truly be happy with visible machine stitching, when I was taking the time to do so much of the nearly invisible stitching by hand. Then a discussion with my mother confirmed that, no, I would not be happy and the work that I'm putting into this and the length of time that I hope to be using these stays, really was worth the extra time.

Never the less the remainder of the channels will be machine sewn. They aren't readily visible and I'm not truly insane just yet. After all I have plenty of hand sewing to do on my shift & mantua. There is no need to wear out my enjoyment of hand sewing on just one piece.

As a total, unrelated to sewing aside, I owe Matt one last thank you for the audio book download of Captain Blood that made this mindless task actually enjoyable. I have a few hours of listening left & even though my hands are stiffening even as I type, I'm trying to think of what the sew next just so I can finish the story! Thanks a ton sweets!

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