My little demon making me choose....dress for Auds or dress for meeeeee!

OK...I admit it....I am a bad aunty!  Was meant to spend this weekend on a dress for my beautiful little niece Auds but when it came down to start cutting out the fabric my scissors took on a life of their own and started cutting out something bigger, something definitely not a toddlers dress.....it was Simplicity 2147 back for round 2.  In the end I had this gorgeous Amy Butler fabric, I've been living in the first 2147 dress I made and I knew I wanted to try out the other neckline so this weekend turned into being all about, ME!  Next week Auds, promise!

I am a big fan of the Simplicity 2147 pattern (though in the interests of full disclosure - I have only the experience of 3 commercial adult clothing patterns to base this 'fandom' on), I have worn my first attempt at this pattern over and over with the conclusion: very comfy, very summery, very easy to wear and most importantly its not a sack.

This time I did the dress in view A.  I have square jawline so a V-neck is a great option for me and looking at the pattern picture the V sits quite high up which is another bonus as I am not too comfortable with deep V necklines.

Please see my previous review for all the discussion on the pros and cons of pleats.  Basically just say NO to pleats in the back of the dress to avoid the aforementioned sack like dress.  I like the pleats in the front but you could also minimise these pleats as well if you feel there is too much volume out front.

With the V neck, sleeveless version I copied the size 12 pattern and, as per my slightly obsessive compulsive engineering needs, I made a muslin up.  I ended up grading out about 1/2" at the bottom of the yoke back to get the back to sit flatter against my back, and then I had to reduce the width of the top of the dress pattern piece so it would fit.  Also based on my experience last time, I flattened out the curve near the centre of the back panel to improve the fit at the back.  If I compare the two dresses, I am much  happier with the back fit of the second dress so will likely translate the changes to the view B pattern pieces.   I wouldn't say to others to do what I did (there is a fairly good chance that you haven't been blessed with my weird shoulder/back geometry) but it certainly reinforces those obsessive compulsive needs of mine to make a muslin and figure out solutions before cutting into the expensive good fabric (I live in Oz, fabric is expensive)

I love the neckline on this top.  It is very easy to construct and I love how it sits.  The only thing I am not sure about is that without the sleeves as a contrasting balance to the body of the dress, the sleeveless version emphasises the straightness of this dress.  Next time I might have to try and mix the v-neck with the sleeves......no pattern piece for that option?......no worries mate!.....I have baking paper, pencil and a fun size pack of kit-kats.

doh! looks like I am going to have to wrangle the right pleat into submission with the iron

Working my headless look....

So summary:
Pattern:               Simplicity 2147, view A dress
Fabric:                yoke - some homespun 100% cotton from lincraft
                            main dress - Amy Butler martini (green/blue/white) from Fabric.com
Instructions:        relatively straightforward...still think they are pulling my leg on the stay stitching 
                            around the neckline because if my seam is at 3/8" and the stay stitching is at 1/2"
                            then that means the stay stitching is VISIBLE....aaaghh!
Size:                   size 12 for yoke with modifications, size 12 graded out to size 14 for dress panels
Modifications:    pleats removed in back dress panel
                           shape of curve at top of back dress panel flattened
                           yoke back adjusted for unusual back shape
                           french seams used for all side seams
Happpy dance on completion:  Yes!


Title reference:  My Little Demon, by: Lindsey Buckingham