Fortuny - oh my goodness, so worth it!

So - I just didn't know what this would look like once it was unfurled.  I waited until it felt dry on the plastic tube (left it over a heater vent) and then ran a hot iron over all the pleats a few times.  This morning, I undid the string and had a look.  First photo is still inside out - I'd figured that it was somehow better to "protect" the surface although I'm not 100% sure that mattered at all.

Here is the sleeve for the waistband elastic, now turned right side out.

It feels amazing when on.  I wish it was a teensy bit longer, but I definitely wasn't going for the original Fortuny style, which pooled on the ground.  I don't have a picture, since I don't have a shirt yet!  I did try on my top rectangle to at least see what the length was looking like, and I THINK I have plenty of link to make it dip upwards in the center front and back, like some of the originals did.  I'm going to just go for it.

One note - I made this from Mood fabrics "china silk" line, which is 100% silk, but significantly cheaper than most of their other silks.  I think the originals were made from silk charmeuse or something shinier.  I wasn't ready to commit to that price point for this (which is just kind of a crazy boondoggle), but I think that I might really just go for it on the next item.  I think there will be a next time! 

But first - I have to make a final decision on shoulder treatment.  I'm sewing the rectangles together for 1/3 on each end and am then turning the seam allowances twice and stitching so that I have channels for cording.  This will (as for the skirt) allow the whole thing to return to a basic, pleatable, rectangle in between washings/pleatings.  But - I still don't know if I want to have the shoulder and neckline cords be separate, and, if so, how to bring them from the channel out to the surface.  Some form of eyelet on the top side, or gap in the casing stitching on the bottom side.  I'm leaning towards a gap for the shoulder cord and hand-sewing eyelets for the neckline (i.e., 4 total) since I'm afraid that 8 eyelets, with 4 clustered closely together, will look weird.