Autumn is a Mosaic

My stylist in action.

Finally!  A finished object!  A dress to be exact.  This is my version of Simplicity 2369.  I made View B but with the front wrap from View A.  The fabric is this beautiful ITY jersey that looks like a mosaic that's been sitting in my stash since last summer, and I think it's a great match for the pattern.

My legs aren't gray.  They're tights.  Lavender.  It made sense this morning.

I was thrilled at how easy this came together, particularly the raglan sleeve.  What a fabulous thing not having to set in a sleeve is, not that you really worry about that with a knit anyway.  The instructions provided were great and easy to follow, although I sewed the sleeves in flat and then sewed up the bottom seam when I finished the side seams.  I made a 14 on top and graded out to a 16 at the hips, but I could have made a 12 on top.  As it was, I found this a little loose in the 14 and had to go back and do some hand sewing to take some of the fabric out of the front wrap piece.  (There was no way I was picking out the serged seam.)  I also added a fourth pleat to the front wrap piece where the tie attaches to take out some of the volume.
 

That's it at the bottom.

I did a lot of hand basting for this dress.  Although the fabric pattern is small and busy, I still wanted to at least have all of the little tiles sort of line up.  I was satisfied with the end result, although if you get too close, you'll see that it's a little off.  I tell myself that if someone is close enough to inspect how the pattern lines up on the seams of my dress, they're either (a) my husband, in which case, he's not going to notice; or (b) some crazy stalker, in which case, I'll have more pressing problems than just a little bobble in my pattern matching.

You'll have to excuse this picture not being very clear.  There's just something about the word X-large and a picture of my backside that I don't want getting together.

I tried a new way of hemming the bottom.  I did a very narrow zigzag which looks like a straight stitch but still has some flexibility.  I put in two lines of stitching close together to mimic the look of a coverstitch.  The biggest problem was the bulk at the seams.  My machine didn't handle them well, and the stitching went all wonky on the first seam I reached.  The others are fine, but I couldn't sew straight for this seam to save my life.  It's the side seam on the right, and I'm trying to figure out how much this bothers me before I commit to fixing this.  I might just leave this as is so that later, I have visible proof that I got better at this.  Assuming that I get better at this.

Wow.  Not pretty.  I still really kind of suck.

I really like this dress, and I'll get a lot of wear out of this.  The colors are perfect, the fabric is soft, and the dress looks great under a cardigan for those days when the office heat isn't being all it can be.  I do want to make a version of this with the sleeves from View A in the future.  Maybe out of a solid. 

Bonus shot of the beauteous Pip.  Because everything is more aesthetically pleasing with kitties.

All in all, this was a great success after my run of mediocre glorified t-shirts.  Next, it's the start of my Lady Grey coat.  I've got all of the pattern pieces cut out.  Tonight, I'll prep them for a pattern fitting.  Then, on to the muslin.  I'm going to try the method outlined by Gertie in her post from this morning.  I hope to be posting regularly about the whole process.