At the beginning of last week I felt that strange familiar warmth of …oh yeah, the SUN so I finally got the chance to take some pics of my new dress. It was windy, and I like to think I was aerating the lawn by attempting to run around in heels taking timed self portraits while there was still some snow on the ground, but here’s what I got (excuse the harsh lighting):

The verdict on this pattern is: hmm. Overall I like it, but I feel like maybe my focus/skills weren’t quite up to the challenge of the placket. The placket is the big pink shape in the front, just in case you were wondering.  I found it to be difficult to match the curves around the collar of the placket since I thought the pattern directed me to sew the inside facing first– meaning I had to press under the edges on the right side of the dress to form the finished placket. (Edited to add: I re-read the pattern and I did indeed misread it– It says to do it how I thought it should be done, I guess my brain was fried from work!) If I did it again, I’d sew the outside placket to the dress first, and then add the facing. In fact, maybe I was supposed to do it that way but I had a hard time comprehending the directions so I just went for it. If you use a matching fabric for your placket, you might have an easier time with this one as I imagine your mistakes wouldn’t be as noticeable.

Another thing I would change if I made this again (because I do like the look) is the way the sleeves are made. If you plan to make this pattern,  I suggest you use the sleeves from View B (they fabric is doubled, which I think that would make them less oddly ruffled than the single layer sleeves from View A). I used  ended up re-setting my View A sleeves about 5/8″ in from the original shoulder, and to me, they still don’t lay quite right. Since this was just a fun stash-busting project, I decided to let them be their weird ruffly selves.

Overall, I’m confident that I’ll wear this, but I’ll probably wear it with a cardigan to hide my less than perfect sleeves and placket. And maybe some jeans, to camoflauge my winter legs! Not that I have to worry about actually being able to wear it any time soon…ahem mother nature, stop with the snow and rain!