Simplicity 3874: In Progress

I didn't get the total evening of peace and solitude I thought was coming last night because *someone* didn't bother to check any movie times before leaving the house and so they ended up only doing dinner, when Alex was looking more forward to a movie than dinner. Sigh. I will refrain from posting further comment on that and will turn my attention to my dress instead.

Here's how it looks now. It's not done yet, but it's close.

That's a craaaaazy print, right? I wasn't sure I liked it when it arrived many months ago, which is why I was willing to "sacrifice" it in the name of a muslin if necessary. It's grown on me, though, and I think it's fun for summer.

On the next make (yes, there will be another), one thing I will change will be to lengthen the casings so that they are closer together at CF. I think there's too much room between them when attached per the pattern markings. I don't like how much of the tie shows on either side of the knot. Not a big deal, for sure, but something I can improve on next time.

The main thing I will need to change next time is sizing. This pattern is for wovens, not knits, and even though I took that into consideration, it's still a little too big on me. Next time, I will "shave" some width off the center front and center backs, top and bottom, to bring everything down a size or two. On this one, I started with the 18 for the neckline and morphed to 22 for waist-hips. I should've started with the 16 and morphed to 20. It's OK on this one because the semi-elastic waist ties cinch everything in.

For the neckline, though, I may need to add some gathers to the CF before I finish it. Right now, it sits way too wide on my shoulders. I'm planning to add a neckband (not a binding) and that will close in the neckline somewhat, but I haven't decided yet if that will be enough without the gathers. I have some orange ITY knit arriving from Fabric.com today and if it looks good with the print, I will make the neckband from that — both to give the eyes something to rest on and also so it ties into my orange sandals. If it doesn't match, then print neckband it is.

This is the pattern — Simplicity 3874. I originally bought it for the dresses, but tried a failed experiment with the jacket a few years ago. I've had these dresses in my "on deck" basket for a long time. I wish I hadn't waited so long.

Parting Thought: I want this pattern and I want it NOW! BMV has Vogues on sale right now. Waaahhhh, why not McCall's?? Do I want it badly enough to pay $11.37 for it, along with the Vogues at $4.99 that are already in my BMV cart, or can I have patience enough to wait until all BMVs are on sale? I wish I knew how long I'd have to wait for that.