I made view D with sleeve option B. I was planning to make view D out of a sparkly knit that I had but at the last minute I decided to use a floral Liverpool knit and thought the flouncy sleeve (sleeve B) would be more appropriate for this summery fabric. I might make it in the sparkle fabric as a straight view D in the future, that would make a cute party dress.
Alterations
Based on the size chart, I graded from size large at the bust to x-large for the hip size but then it ended up being a little big in the waist/hip when sewn and I had to take it back in a smidgeon. I would probably be ok with a straight size large.
See that weird bulky area? That's basically where I graded out, and it was sticking out because it was too big. I pinned it and took it in a little to eliminate it.
I also added two inches to the length to make it kneed length for me. I'm almost 5'8" and adding two inches to this made it perfect when I hemmed it.
Directions
This is a pretty simple sew, so it wasn't hard to put together but I found the directions to be a little vague. I had to read the glossary twice to see what they were talking about! For example, it says to double stitch some of the seams, and I double check that meant to sew them twice. I have never seen this direction before, so far as I recall, so I had to check! I serged the main part of the dress together instead of double stitching.
There are also several places where the instructions say to make a narrow hem, for example, around the neckline. It's kind of a pain to hem around a curved area, even with a knit that stretches a little bit. Since knits don't fray, I put some knit stabilizer around the neckline (see left photo below) and stitched it down with a double needle. I finished around the shoulder the same way (right photo shows finished under-arm seam on the sleeve). Even still, I had to clip it a few times to get it to lay down when it was turned under (see middle photo below).
On the hem, I did fold it under, as directed, but I hemmed it using a double needle for consistency.
It came together really fast, only 2 days from start to finish and I really only worked on it a few hours. It doesn't have pockets, I thought about adding some but since it's close fitting, I didn't think it would look good. Maybe next time, I will add some anyway :)
I am looking forward to wearing this when the weather is nicer! Unfortunately we are having a snow storm now so it might be a little bit of wait before I can take it out for a spin! Then I can add some better pics of me wearing it!
Update - version two!
The original floral version of this dress is one of my favorite makes from this year and I always get a bunch of compliments on it! I made a second version in a blue sparkly knit from Cali Fabrics to wear to a wedding. For this version I combined views D (front and sleeves) and C (back) and adjusted the back not to have a collar but rather attached the opening together at the top with a cross piece.
This time, I made a straight size large and it fits just fine.
This knit is a little on the thin side, so I reinforced the shoulders with clear elastic. I bought a giant roll on amazon which has been great for this kind of thing! It's a little less stretchy than regular white elastic. I serged into the seam when serging the shoulders together. It's a little tricky to have the elastic lined up in exactly the right spot but not too bad with some practice.
One area that the pattern is way off is the length of the sleeves. Look at this photo! I have pretty long arms and often add a little extra to long-sleeve patterns but this time I had to take off several inches.
I didn't really like the look of the collar, but the back needs some kind of connection at the top to hold it together. I just serged together a piece of 2" wide fabric to a make a tube and then pinned it on based on how the back fit my dress form. I probably could have made it a little shorter.
I just bought a coverstitch (CS) machine and this was my first project using it. The first time, I finished my edges with a double needle, this time I used my CS to go around the back hole, around the neckline & across the connector piece, around the sleeve holes and to hem it. I worked great but I could use a little practice, this thinner knit is also not very forgiving.
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