Setting a gore into a slit

It isn't my intention for this blog to turn into tutorials; I'm much more focused on sharing *why* I make the decisions I do; there are enough tutorials on the internet.

However, sometimes the muse grabs me, and I go.

Occasionally in historical costume one is expected to sew a triangular gore into a slit in the fabric.  The following is my method.

The seam allowance for the gore is 1/2" on both straight sides.  The seam allowance for the slit starts at 1/2" but gradually becomes nearly nothing at the point of the gore.

This garment will be lined, so I'm sewing both the outer fabric (purple wool) and the lining (black linen) of the gore as if they were one. I basted them together along the stitching line, which also gives me a good guideline.  (I'd baste along that line whether I was doing one layer or two.)

 I've pinned the right side of the gore to the right side of the slit. You can *just* make out how the edges don't match up: the right side is bluer, the wrong side redder. The right side of the gore sticks out more and more as you go down along the (future) seam.  The gore is on the BOTTOM. This is important.

I folded back the garment  so it's easier to see the gore, and the basted stitching lines.  I want the end of the slit to wind up centered between the two stitching lines, ideally just before the point where the two stitching lines cross.  I marked that spot where the lines cross with a pin (not shown) so I can see where to stop sewing.

Here I've stitched to the spot I marked with a pin, and turned the whole thing around so that what I just sewed is near me.  The needle is down, to make a good pivot point, and the presser foot is up to allow the fabric to move freely.

Because  the slit ended *before* the crossed stitching lines, and I stopped sewing just past that, I need to clip the last little bit of the slit.  It's better to sew then cut, for precision.

Then, keeping the top layer aligned as in the photos above (so you can sew forward down the other leg of the slit), rotate the gore counter clockwise under everything...

rotate rotate rotate

 ...Until the other edge of the gore matches up with the second leg of the slit.

 And sew that seam, maintaining 1/2" seam allowance on the gore, and going from nearly nothing to 1/2 inch on the slit.

When done, the back should look like this (remember, my gore is backed with black linen):

And the front more or less like this (it'll look better when pressed):