Hand basting B 4254

You read that post title right ... I am hand basting the seams on my Butterick 4254 corset.  No, this is not a guest post.  No, I am not a pod person left in place of your handsewing-hating blogger after her abduction by aliens ... at least I don't think I am!  And no, I haven't suddenly developed a love for handsewing either ... and yes my fingertips are still letting me know about it.

We've been having some lovely spring weather, so I have been running errands and admiring the cheery bright yellow daffodils and watching the white and pink dogwoods bloom.  Yesterday after some errands I cut out the canvas core layer for my B4254 corset ... and while leaning over the last piece to cut with the rotary my back gave me a warning that it was not about to tolerate sitting at the sewing machine after all the errands and cutting.  So, no putting it together ... unless ...

Necessity may be the mother of invention, but determination and stubbornness are what tend to get things done for me.  I still wanted to put the pieces together - not just to make progress, but to keep my furry feline faction from "playing" with it as I slept.  My cats may be cute, but they are still ornery mischievous monsters.  So yesterday evening I hand basted all the seams except the side seams and the seam in the center of the bust cups.

I'm on my 3rd cup of coffee, took time to clean my machine and change the needle, dig out light pink thread ... and it still isn't even noon.  I have all those seams machine-stitched, pressed, pinked, and even topstitched.  Already.  Seriously!  Even stitching up the bust gusset curves was easy.  And here is the obligatory "Prove it!" pic:

I basted with the dark green that is still on my desk after the velvet ribbon handsewing for my friend's doublet.  I used up the last of the lavender thread in a bobbin ... errr, I don't recall what project that is left over from.  For the canvas layer, I am pressing the seams the opposite way - towards the front - as the outer and lining layers will have their seams pressed towards the back and I am not thrilled with the idea of sewing through 12 layers when I put it all together.  I've also decided to do only three layers instead of four.

I've come to the conclusion handsewing is like exercise: while I don't really enjoy the process, I do like the results.  Now, to hand baste the remaining four seams ... then cut out the denim and indigo linen/cotton for the lining so I can hand baste them this evening.