1840s Dress Part 2

Phew, this gown is taking a really long time! I've been really excited to work on it all month and I have been whenever I've had free time, which has been little and far between. But I've got the bodice finished except for closures and sleeves. The sleeves are generally assembled, and once those are done and making friends with the bodice, it'll be time for the skirts, and then just attach the two and poof! I'm so excited :)

I won't say a lot about this right now. I made the bias tape for the piping out of 17" of 60" wide poly taffeta I had in my stash that was the most perfect colour, and matching cotton yarn also from my stash. It is pretty much all applied by hand since I can't get my zipper foot close enough to the piping. The true colour is more a deep burgundy; I took these pictures fairly late in the day when my east-facing apartment is not well-lit, but I so wanted to share my progress. I just LOVE this dress so far. I'm working on the gathered middle part of the other sleeve as you read this :)