Summer of Dresses - Simplicity 1803

Hello all, it's hotter than Hades along the parade route so I've called in some favors and gotten you all handsome gentlemen to fan you while you lounge.  Best dress parade ever, am I right? I've told the boys to keep your drinks filled and to get you popsicles if you need them.  Now that you're all liquored up let's see the next dress in the parade.

It's fun, it's girly...

And the back makes me swoon.

Pattern

Simplicity 1803 View C.  In contrast to 2444 envelope, I LOVE both of these sample garments.  In fact I might barter my first born for some of that lemon/strawberry/flower print. If you love the hot pink eyelet I happen to know that B&J fabrics carries it. (Oh and they have more of the cobalt blue eyelet that my Colette Peony was made out of, so pop on that.)

Fabrics used
Silk/Cotton Voile from Gertie's etsy shop lined with light weight Siri lining also from Gertie. Turns out silk/cotton voile is as soft as kittens! Seriously I wanted to just rub it all over my face as soon as I got my hands on it.  Due to it's semi-sheerness it needed an underlining, so I got some of the siri lining in both white and black.  A  few samples showed that the white color made the pink and yellow roses pop more so the black got put away for another day. 

Pattern changes/alterations
1. Shortened the bodice by 3/8".
2. Increased intake of back bodice dart to 2 1/4".
3. Added 1/4" extra width to the back armhole.
4. These sleeves had the same problem as New Look 6097 where they seemed to have too much excess fabric under the arm.  I made a similar last minute fix by taking a 1/2" wedge out of the sleeve seam. You can see from this side view that they still puff out in the back a tad.

 5. I originally put the pockets in this dress, but there were made out of only the white lining and were highly visible when they gaped open.  Decided to just take them out and sew up the seams.

Confessions/Advice
1. The voile did shift some when I cut it on a self healing mat. Lucky I could true it up on the underlining and it didn't cause me any sewing problems.  However I would cut silk/cotton voile in a tissue paper sandwich next time.
2. After sewing on the facing on the bodice the edges on V notch flopped forward.  This might have happened because the voile does not have much body or because you need to clip the seam allowances at the base of the V notch.  Anyway it seemed that interfacing on the facing piece was not enough to hold the edges upright. To fix the problem I cut two rectangles out of some medium weight interfacing, then fused them to inside of the bodice right where the top of the V was folding forward.  This gave the voile some extra support helping the V notice to stand up crisply.  As an added bonus all of this is hidden by the bodice facing.
3. Underlining this whole dress was a pain in the ass, but it did let me secure the facings and hems invisibly. Because I could the whole front facing was tacked to the underlining. No facings flipping out this time!

4. This was my first time using siri lining and I was quite pleased with it. After washing the hand is very soft and it does breath beautfully in the garment.  I've been wearing this dress during the heat wave and the polyester content didn't give me any trouble.

Husband Comment
"I like your skirt, it's fluffy." (Frankly this surprised me. I guess Mr. B is still a man of mystery.)

My Final Thoughts
I've enjoyed wearing this dress so much that I'm considering making another with the view B bodice. It's easy, breezy, beautiful....um Project Runway Girl?  Yes that's it. 
P.S. They'd totally kick me off the runway with this last pose.