made by meli88a: Simplicity 3503

I've made out pretty well with this dress pattern. This is the second time I've made a dress from this pattern.

Previously I made view B in orange jersey. If you squint out (squint!) the different dress drawings on the left side of the pattern photo, view B is the red checked short dress with dolman sleeves. What I learned was that this pattern has excessive ease and that jersey stretches if you hang it on the hanger. The orange dress was my go-to dress all last summer and then this year as I was packing to move I found that it was stretched out of shape from hanging in my closet all winter.

So this time around, I made the dress a size smaller than my measurements indicated (I'm at 10 by the package measurements, but I cut an 8.) I wanted a maxi dress but without a halter neckline or exposing my horrible runner's tan (sport bra line on my back, HOT!) and view E of this pattern fit the bill. This dress is the dress that I'm going to wear to 3 outdoor weddings -- one next weekend, on Labor day weekend, and one in mid September -- I wanted something packable that didn't need to be steam cleaned. So a jersey dress would be perfect!

The fabric is a jersey from Gorgeous Fabrics that's been sitting in my stash for over a year, and the lining is some mystery blue polyester knit (it's amazing what you find when you dig deep enough). The fashion fabric has a beautiful border print that's about 1' deep. You can see it in full from my mid calf down. I used on portion of it for the bodice, and the bottom most portion (with the brown trim) for the neckline to repeat the print. I like the result!

The thing that I hate about Simplicity patterns is that they're sized for Amazons. I took 3" off the skirt portion of the pattern, and the dress is still too long. I was really disappointed and didn't want to cut the border print off the dress. Because I am so short, I was able to squeeze this dress out of 2 yards of fabric, when the pattern calls for 2 3/4 yards.

If I had left the dress as designed by the pattern, it would have looked like a total sack. The waist line of the design was well below my natural waistline. So I took the midriff lining out, and sewed the skirt seam to the bodice seam. With this adjustment, the dress fits better on my body but it's still really long. I have to wear it with heels, and because I cut it so that the stretch runs lengthwise (to use that border print at my feet!) I'm afraid it's going to get longer if the fabric stretches as I wear it.

Here are some details. Apologies for the fuzzy pictures. I just can't win without someone to take pictures for me. They're either too dark because I take them indoors or they come out crazy bright outdoors.