I just realized I made this dress, Instagrammed it, reviewed it on PatternReview, and never came back to my blog to share it! It's now a month old at least -- so here is a slightly delayed review of the Lacey Dress from Style Arc.
In quick summary: I liked it after a few alterations.
I started this pattern because I thought it would be a great design to highlight some striped fabric I picked up in Toronto in June (at King Textiles)
It does indeed look wonderful in stripes! But there were a few small issues with my fabric choice. It is a bit too stiff to work with a gathered skirt. I tried it, and it was quite dreadful. So I quickly unpicked it and converted to a pleated skirt. Fortunately for me, the amount of gathering I need for the skirt to fit the bodice was an even number - 6" exactly. So I folded out two pleats on each side of both the front and back skirts, matching the inner pleat to the seam of the centre panel to keep things looking tidy. This skirt falls much better with some nice crisp pleats!
I also found that there was still too much fabric in the waistline and perhaps that is again down to the body of the fabric. However, I pinched out a crescent of fabric between the underarm area and the top of the pocket, with the widest part being one inch at the waistline seam. Once I'd basted that and tested it, I stitched it down permanently and much prefer the look this way. I'll go back and make those changes on my pattern pieces for next time for sure -- this is such a fun style and so comfortable to wear I am sure I'll make another one in more suitable fabric!
This is a very cool dress to wear in the muggy weather we've been having because it just floats around the body. It was fairly simple to make - no closures and the side panel/sleeve is a neat feature. I really like how the centre panels at front and back make it easy to add little touches like stripes going in opposite directions - it would also highlight some colour blocking nicely I think. This is the first Style Arc pattern I've made which fits me well, and I am very pleased with it!
