The waist is accented by a very flourescent lime green cummerbund.  I could not for the life of me find silk in the colour I wanted, so ended up using this poly charmeuse, and it is awful to sew with – slippery, unpredictable and will not shape the way silk would.  Once the dress is on dear E, the cummerbund will fit tautly and the handstitched pleating will not be so noticeable.  The zipper is completely hand-picked.  I’ve been craving some hand sewing these days, and this zipper was like a sip of cold water on a hot day when you really want to jump into a swimming pool.  But there’s a lot more hand work to be done on the bodice yet….