reed in

The reeds are in. 

The bowed shape magically happened when the horizontal boning was inserted. Here is a view of the neckline from another angle.

The center front is almost 4 inches out from the seam at the underarm. That really helps make that nice conical shape. Here's a shot from above.

The channels along the seams with the blue bias binding have one reed in them, as do the horizontal ones across the bust. With both mock-ups I had difficulty getting the horizontal boning in as the fabric tightened with the curve, and decided I wasn't going to fight it with the finished piece. The channels at the center back also have one reed each. I didn't calculate the space the seam allowance would take up and I kept breaking them there. Eventually, I gave up trying to force two in. I'll have to try the stays on and lace them up to see if they'll be strong enough. If they warp too much, or snap, I'll have to use something else for boning. All other channels have two reeds per channel. They were all straightened, except for the ones running horizontally across the bust, those were left curved. 

Time to start binding the edges.