Finished and Road Tested Too!

I finally got the hem stitched on S2588 and I wore the dress to work on Thursday. I was quite pleased!

I'm going to give this one an A. Not an A+, because I decided I don't love the fabric so much, but still, an A, because it was so comfortable and fun to wear. It reminded me again that I love a cotton dress on a warm day! This is a pattern that I just might make again- the full skirt and the sleeveless version intrigue me.

Anyway, on to the details. I used the slim skirt, the flat sleeves, amd the wide yoke. I cut a 16 from the neckline down to the hip, where I morphed out to an 18. As I said in a previous post, the waist was way too tight. I should have used the size 18 cutting lines at the waist. For the finished dress, I cut it out the same as the muslin, but I used 1/4" seam allowances at the waist instead of 5/8". This gave me plenty of room and I can breathe in the finished dress.

I added 1" of length to the bodice pieces at the waist- a pretty standard adjustment for me. I did a 3/8" princess FBA, and I added 3/8" of width to the back skirt piece which was darted out at the waist. Now that the dress is finished, I think I could have gotten away with a little less extra circumference in the skirt and waist, but it turned out okay and I'm not going to sweat it.

To personalize the dress, I used mini piping in both the upper and lower yoke seams.

I also piped the waist tabs. The tabs are unique in that they are sewn into the back darts rather than the side seams.

I'm not crazy about these mother of pearl buttons, but they were the only ones in my stash that were remotely suitable. I figured I could change them later, but I probably won't bother since I fell out of love with the dress.

I used an invisible zipper and for once I managed to line up the piped yoke seam and the waist seam pretty well.

All in all I like the dress and I will wear it from time to time throughout the summer. It is not lined, but all the inside seams are serged. I will wear it with a slip. This is a cute dress pattern and I recommend it if you need an easy summer dress

Next up for me will be BWOF 05-2008-115, a princess seamed dress with an intriguing twist front:

I'll be skipping the turban. I plan to use a cool black rayon challis with a pink and green swirl print. Muslin is made, pattern is tweaked, and cutting will commence this weekend!

I also need to make a few things for my daughter who is growing like a weed. Summer Fields is still in progress (okay, languishing in the sewing room), but we are going to take time out this weekend to work on some casual play clothes. We'll start with Butterick 5022:

I have some pink twill picked out for the capri pants and a cute blingy applique to try out on one of the pockets. We'll pick out a print from stash to make the cute little sun top. Stay tuned for results.