B 4254 D progress and waist tape

Just a quick check-in after running my only errand on this absolutely lovely spring day, and to snap a couple pics before I baste the layers all the way together.  Last night I basted in twill tape along the shortest length of each side, following instructions from Sidney Eileen's tutorial on adding a waist tape into your corset.  For those who haven't bookmarked it yet (or had the old bookmark before her site revamp), Ms. Eileen has a number of useful pic-heavy corset-making tutorials.  So here's a pic of my waist tape on the canvas core layer:

And I tried to snap a pic of the topstitching, plus how neat the CB looks by using the stitch and flip method instead of trying to bind the center back ... with my usual (too) "soft focus" photography (lack of) skill:

Meh, you can sort-of see the pink topstitching I did with my narrow twin needle.  You can also see where I intentionally skipped the top part of the seam through the middle of the bust cup.  No need to emphasize just how far out that seam will sit.

Now, to grab bright red thread and baste the layers together to put in the boning channels.  I was asked last night in chat why I am hand-basting when I dislike handsewing so much ... my battle with fitting this corset showed me just how much a difference moving the seams can make ... and there are six vertical panels!  If each slides even just 1/16th of an inch, then the layers will not only be hosed overall but if it's off by more than 1/4 inch overall that changes how it fits.  With everything basted together instead of pinned, that is one less thing to worry about as I sew and I can concentrate on trying to keep the seam where it ought to be.  Not to forget about another benefit: if everything is basted together, that is much less chance of getting the bottom lining layer folded up underneath or caught in the wrong seam!  (That's an oopsie that tends to happen about every other project.)