1911 - lacing, and perfectionism rears its ugly head

I can not tell a lie. My corset is not finished. I know! I should be done, right? I'll go into the lame explanation as to why it's not done in a moment, but first I should go over how I'm lacing this corset for those who have stayed on schedule.

Before I start threading the lace through the grommets is tie a small slip knot in the center on the lace. That way I can't accidentally pull the laces through with one side way longer than the other. Once the corset is laced I just undo the knot. Easy. I bring the lace through from back to front, or from the interior to the exterior, of the corset.

When I reach the waist I skip one grommet.

The loop is made by threading the lace on the open grommet above on the same side, then crossing to the grommet below the threaded one on the opposite side.

The loop on the other side is made the same way.

Then I continue lacing back and forth to the bottom of the corset.

The ends are tied together in a bow. Making the loops at the waist with the extra cross keeps them from slipping when you are putting the corset on. The extra cross isn't necessary, it just helps.

So now on to why my corset isn't finished. I'm still having issues with the top edge. I bought lace and ribbon and spent Saturday morning dying both. The lace was originally so white it glared against the fabric, and of corse there was no ribbon to be found that was the same color as the garters and trim on the bottom. So I bound the edge with black bias and pinned the lace in place. Maybe, OK, obviously, I'm over thinking it, but the lace isn't quite right. It's too sugary for my taste.

You can see I pinned ribbon over to get an idea of what it would look like if I bound the edge with aqua bias and left just some of the lace showing. But I'm still not sold. It competes too much with the print of the fabric. Here it is with only plain ribbon to mimic the aqua bias.

That is my favorite. Of course by time I finally arrived at this point the Oscars were ready to air and I had to watch. But I've made the correct decision, right?