Simplicity 8259

For some reason I thought this dress wouldn't fit very well, so I had it cut out for over a year
before I got to it. And it fits really well. I've had a lot of sewing failures this year so this was a
welcome change for me!

This dress does have sleeves from another pattern (sorry can't remember which one).
I wanted a sleeve with more ease.

And I even had matching buttons in the stash!

 

Akinori Dress Pattern

Short dresses just don't look that good on me. I had even lengthened this, but I ran out of fabric to make it longer. I cut out my normal size in the big four patterns and that worked out well. 

Sewing the insert was a bear, but it does look nice and finished on the inside. Also the top is supposed to overlap in the front as it attaches to the insert. I couldn't get that to work but I'm fine with that.

 I also gathered the back under the belt so it would lay nicer and that worked out well too. I'm kind of iffy on this dress because of the length, might add a ruffle if I can find some coordinating fabric.

McCall's 7970

I've sewn up this pattern before and I like the first version better. The flowers on the bodice are just not in the best area, even though I did take note when cutting this out.

On this version instead of hemming the exposed ruffle I turned it under so it acts as a facing, that ended up working better than version one. I will wear this so I will count this as a success.