Late 1880's skirt with soutache

I finished the skirt for the 1888-1890 outfit a while ago, but never got around to posting it. It took a while to make it, since I decided to finally make make a garment with soutache embroidery. I have been looking longingly at extant garments with soutache for a long time, so now I decided it was time to actually do it. For inspiration, I used pictures like this one:

From The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

 I wanted something slightly organic, a feeling of leaves or sea grass rather than the stricter design found on military uniforms.(A bit unusual for me, as I am generally very fond of the military look.)

I worked out a design, and pinned a section of it to the fabric. I pinned free hand, just looking at one report of the pattern that I had drawn on a paper, and occasionally measuring to make sure that I didn't distort the pattern. I sewed it on by hand. I soon discovered that it looked much better if I used back stitch. Otherwise the thread pulled the band, making puckers.

For the skirt, I wanted to use thin wool fabric, but was not able to find any. Instead I found a polyester in exactly the color I wanted. It had good drape, but unfortunately also a bit of stretch. To get rid of the stretch I flatlined all pieces of the skirt with a soft cotton fabric. It seems to work well.

I used the same basic 1880's Truly Victorian skirt as I have used for my other skirts. And as with the other skirts, I added a pocket in a side seam, taken from the 1886 Patterns of Fashion dress. Following the strict feeling of my inspirational picture I made this skirt entirely plain except for the embroidery - no poufs at the back, no ruffles. And here is the result - a bit of a teaser, as I will publish the rest of the outfit soon.