Early? Inconceivable.

The May Sewn thing is... done? On May 6, even.

Oh, this dress. Simplicity 2886, and Simplicity is the last thing this project needs to be called. Although it turned out nicely in the end, the beginning was pure misery, and resulted in one of many modifications.

Simply put, the bands that were supposed to be at the top were not working at all. They worked until I tried to flip them to the correct side. All I read online in reviews for this dress were that the seams "didn't line up".

That's one phrase for it. Another phrase to describe it would be "human boobs don't point in that direction" -- which is exactly what I said a week ago after spending close to two hours trying to make it work. The more I tried to fix it, though, the more frustrated I got, and finally decided to just tape the two pieces together, and cut it out as one whole piece. (Pro Tip: If you do this, make sure to delete the seam allowance from the bottom of the piece, before the midriff is attached, or else the front and back won't line up. I neglected to do that at first, and couldn't figure out what went wrong.)

Aside from that major issue -- which had me muttering about this expletive expletive dress for a while -- I quite like this dress. After last week's mishap, it was easy to finish in a weekend, and the only hemming involved was hemming the lining. All told, I'd say it probably took me five hours this weekend? Not too bad for stash fabric that's been sitting around since 2009,  and for a cute sundress that will serve me well.

The style was precisely what I wanted -- something that would use up the denim stash fabric I had, while making a sundress that was work-appropriate for casual Fridays. If I throw a white cardigan or bolero over it, it's nice for work, and then the cardigan can come off if I want to go out after work and have something a little more casual.

Many modifications to this, mostly because I liked the style, but hate how Simplicity does things:

1. Got rid of the bands at the top. See above paragraph about human boobs and gravity. After I finished the dress, I also realized that the white bands in contrast would have looked too cutesy, and not what I wanted for this dress. 
2. No pintucks in the midriff. This started out as "I DON'T WANNA AND IT'S NOT GOING TO WORK" and then shifted to "Wait. Why are there pintucks in a summer sundress?" With the way the ties are, I like having it smooth all the way across. 
3. Gathers instead of pleats. Pleats don't look good on me, and with the lightweight denim, I was worried that pleats would just look weird. 
4. Wider elastic in the back. I felt it needed a little more support than the narrow elastic would provide, so I went to 1/2 an inch over 1/4 inch. It fits nicely, and gives the girls a little more support in the back. See previous references about gravity. 
5. Fully lined. I prefer lined dresses, and even though the bodice was lined, I didn't think it was enough. I went with my standard Posh Lining from Joann Fabric. The price is reasonable, and it gives dresses and skirts a little more body. .

Probably the only time it's going to have a perfect bow. 

This dress sort of sums up my problems with Simplicity. I end up not liking how they've drafted the patterns -- or they just plain don't make sense -- and I end up modifying it to the point where the only thing I get from the pattern is the actual pieces. I don't know that I'm going to completely give up on Simplicity, but I'm pretty close. They have really cute patterns, but I do hate how nonintuitive the patterns are, and how some things take a lot of shortcuts. Like, why only line the bodice? Why not attach the straps through the back, instead of afterward? 

I'll probably continue to stick mostly with Vogue. Even though they don't always have nice trendy things (they do, but not always in the sundress assortment), the patterns make more sense and they're usually lined -- or at least easy enough to add a lining.