I can’t remember exactly where I found this dress, but I stumbled across it online somewhere:

I loved the idea of this dress, it seemed a little young for me, maybe, but simple enough to recreate, so I tried my hand at it.  Only a few mishaps and an afternoon’s worth of work and I have it:

Overall I’m pretty happy with it. I love the way the bias strips in the neckline and hem came out.  After wearing it for a night I see I need to adjust the neckline a little.  It’s just too wide and slips off my shoulders.  I’m not sure yet quite what I’ll do.  I might just handstitch it closed a little further on each side.  I’m also considering a little inverted box pleat on the outside of each arm.  It would match the pleat detailing on the front and bring the sleeves in a little.

The basic pattern came out a little sack like, so I brought it in about three inches just at the waist, so it has a little more shape.  I put on-seam pockets instead of the front patch pockets.  They worked out great except initially I sewed each one on backwards with French seams.  I ended up just covering the mistake with bias tape, so there’s a little black ribbon band right inside each pocket.  I also think it looks better belted but I didn’t think any belt I had was perfect.  I might sew all the scraps of the fabric I have left together and make a simple tie belt for it.  It’s a lovely midweight homespum cotton, so it breathes well but has a nice bit of texture to it.

In the next few days hopefully I’ll have a preview of some of my new (soon not to be) secret project. I’ve been working on it.  I seem to keep getting bogged down in the part where I take pictures to show you.  Soon, though, I swear.