Butterick 5676 -A Transition Into Fall Dress

Thank you for the nice comments on my Ponte Pant suit. I wore it to court but was not picked for Jury duty. My number didn't come up. The trial has already ended with a hung jury.

Today, I'm showing a colour blocked ponte dress that will be part of my mini wardrobe for the Pattern Review Contest. (I don't know why I'm typing in italics and I don't know how to change it back! lol!)

I used Butterick 5676 from my pattern stash. I had planned on making a copy of the Yves Saint Laurent Mondrian dress,but I changed my mind when I came across this pattern in my dresses drawer of patterns.

This is what I started with. I find this exercise very useful in planning a more complicated garment.

     I'll show you the dress and then tell you a little bit about it's construction.

I didn't follow  the plan for the back. I changed the upper back colour.

    The fabric is an RPL slubbed Ponte , the same I used for many other pieces this summer/fall.

    I made it pretty much exactly like the pattern envelope shows. 

I cut my usual size 10 at the shoulders and upper chest graded out to a size 12 from the chest  down and added about 1/2" extra at the side seams. I did an FBA like this  (I eased in the  extra at the side seam and the fit is right on. 

   At first sight ,this seems like a complicated design but it wasn't as difficult as it seemed.

   I changed the construction in this way:

    Instead of adding the neck band after the two sides of the front were assembled and joined at the         center front , I added the neckband to each side front. Then I sewed the center front seam .In this       way ,I avoided having to sew the V at the front center neckline.

    I also sewed the back neckband to the back and then sewed the shoulder seams to join the front           to the back.

     

    I omitted the side zipper as the dress goes on very easily without it.

    The hemline is finished with a twin needle. The dress is unlined.

     I decided to use three colours for my dress but I think it would have been fine with just the light          brown and the beige.

     I wore my dress to church today and I felt it was just the thing for mid September.

     This makes the third piece of my four piece mini wardrobe. I still need a top to go with the                      jacket and pants.Here are the jacket and dress together.

    In the meantime, I'm working on a brown denim pant suit for my sister Gloria who is the very same size as    me except she is not as busty as I am. I'm really enjoying the process ( and all the top stitching) I'll have it       to show you next week, if all goes well. 

    Happy Sewing  from