First post of two about the back and lapels!  Tomorrow’s post will be just a bunch more photos.  Remember, all photos enlarge when clicked.

This first photo shows a great selection of the types of beads and baubles.  The tiny little 16/0 beads are the only ones sewn on, and they follow a floral pattern that isn’t part of the lace.  The floral pattern exists only because of the beading.

The smooth beads that look like small glass fishbowl pieces are glass, as are the faceted rhinestones that come to a point at the top and the 9-faceted black rhinestones (the table is a facet).  The rest have the glow and roughness of plastic, which makes sense since they’re meant to be rough, and that’s a difficult look to get with glass.  Say hello to those strings of hot glue!  I will be experimenting with different options since hot glue melts in areas with hotter weather, like Arizona, or Burning Man! (I learned that one the hard way…also, m Green Fairy costume caught on fire. 😀 )  Even if not worn, traveling though hot areas could melt the glue.  So I’ll report on what I tried in post 2.5

This photo shows well the cut of the tail coat in the front.  The seaming almost gives the appearance of a separate vest, but there isn’t one.  The lace/baubled bits (I’m just going to call the decorated pieces “baubled bits”) follow the seams in the front down to about 4″-5″ below the waist, and continue up over the shoulders.

The exaggerated labels are glorious, and that wonderfully high collar are just…*sigh*  Notice also the single button on the front.  I’m going to come back to this on post 2.5.

Pay attention here to how the baubled bits on the back extend all the way to the waist, to the two buttons, before sharply curving back up, then to the waist again, like three long drips.

The lace is folded to cut over the sleeve cap, but is the same piece.  Click on this pick to make it larger, and you can see that the fold terminates about 1/4″ below a blue bead.

More photos tomorrow!  If anything isn’t clear enough, or more explanations of any sort are needed, let me know.