"The stars are right" dress

Let me interrupt the stream of pattern giveaways to introduce ... my first completed sewing project of 2012!    The "stegosaurus ass" skirt, travel, a busy schedule, and a need to use my off-time to just relax has certainly delayed my sewing progress.  

This dress was inspired by the two previous dresses I made from Butterick 6075, obviously (here and here) but also by a cardigan I snatched from the clearance racks of Anthropologie back around Christmastime.   

image source (Anthropologie, obv)

For some reason I immediately wanted to make a coordinating dress ... not sure why, as it's never crossed my mind to do this with any other cardigan I own (and I have many).   I'm calling it my "the stars are right" dress, because hey, I had a vision and it actually came together!  (And because I can't resist a Cthulhu reference.)  I found the perfect fabric at fabric.com:  isn't it amazing that there was constellation fabric just waiting for me?

I am proud of how nicely my pointy bits came out.

I had brought some shoes downstairs to wear with the dress, but I decided they didn't work.   By that point my dog had already figured out that we were going to go outside! outside! and couldn't wait for me to go up and find a different pair.

I Photoshopped the thread and fabric
scraps off my floor.

So, even on my third attempt, this dress is still a little loose.  This time it's because I tried something new and used a rayon Bemberg lining, and it's much thinner and slipperier (if that's a word) than the cotton batiste I usually line with.  It probably changed the way the fit feels more than the fit itself.  Overall, I like it and it wasn't hard to work with, so I'll be adding rayon linings to the ol' repertoire.   I bought this lilac rayon a while back thinking it would be used for a skirt, not a dress, but I like the chance color combo.  

I also changed my construction order a bit: normally I finish the side of the bodice and skirt that won't have the zipper, then gather and attach the skirt to the bodice.  This time I handled the skirt gathering and attaching for the front and back separately, and sewed up the side seam last.   Somehow this made the gathering (one of my least favorite sewing steps!) less onerous, so I'll probably keep doing it this way.  This also makes it easier to adjust the side seams, but the dress is just so durn comfortable the way it is, so I don't think I want to.  It's mainly for casual weekend wear, after all.  

So, does it actually work with the cardigan that inspired it?  I think so!  Plus, I have a white cardigan that will go too.  I never leave home without a cardigan (or a hoodie), so it's important to know my options!

Oh, and one final note:  this dress has received the much-coveted Ratapoo Seal of Approval: