Lace Top, Finished (a long time ago...)

After many hours of hand-stitching, I finally finished the lace top that I started in Susan Khalje's Couture Sewing School in July... in November.  I made sure to have it ready to wear on Thanksgiving, but it was a bit chilly that day so I ended up wearing a different sewing project (more on that later). Since then I have worn it several times- it looks great dressed up or down, and can be worn year-round!

Front

You can see that there are no seams visible, even though there are seams at the sides, the shoulders, and around the neck and bottom where lace edging was applied. 

Back

Again, no seams are visible.  Here, lace edging has been applied to each side of the back opening.

Side

On the sides, the seam runs down where you see a solid strip of the floral motif.

Back closures

For the closures, after much thought I decided to go with the simplest option- snaps.  I covered them with matching silk to make sure that they were well concealed.

Inside neck

Here is the inside of the neck- you can see where the extra lace was cut away underneath the edging so that it didn't show through from the outside.

Hand stitching

Here is a close up of hand stitching on a part of the edging as applied to the back opening- the hand stitching is on the right hand edge of the floral motif (stitching it to the netting).  Because the cording on the lace is stitched on by hand when it is manufactured, the added hand stitching is not at all noticeable.

Since August I have been doing lots of other sewing, which I will share over the next few days!