The dress I'm sharing today is Butterick 5559. I've had this pattern in my stash for a while, I think I bought it at one of the Clegs pattern sales. While preparing to make my frocktails dress, after making the muslin and before buying the fabric I had some spare time so cut this dress out. By the time I'd sewn the pleats on one of the pieces I had my frocktails fabric so this got put aside for a little while before I finished it.
The pattern is really clever; there are darts on the bodice front and skirt back, hidden beneath some of the pleats. The pleat almost at my waistline is also actually a seam, so you cut the bodice and skirt out as separate pieces.
I tried the dress on without sleeves, but decided to add sleeves, which I left the just above elbow length in the pattern
I found the pleats quite simple and relaxing to do. I just took my time with marking them and sewing them. I probably should have stitched them with grey thread rather than black though. I managed to match up some of them on the side seams, but some of them just didn't match; I don't know if that was a sewing, cutting or drafting error, but the distance that some of them didn't match by seems bizarre, and a little frustrating.
I used the neck facing that came with the pattern, and top stitched it down around the neckline to stop it flipping. I also took the pattern in a bit along the side seams (including up into the sleeve) as I'd bought the larger set of sizes (because past-Rachel naively trusted the size chart on the envelope). This could possibly have contributed to the issues with matching the pleats, but I don't think explains all of it.
The fabric is a double knit that I picked up from the GJs remnants table. Unfortunately the fabric snags ridiculously easily; the first time I wore the dress I managed to snag the front of the skirt on a bag (visible in the above photos), and have since snagged more and more of it, including along the back just from wearing a backpack with the dress. I had some more of the fabric left but I think it will be relegated to muslins.
So overall, the pattern worked out quite well and I've since bought some more fabric to possibly make another version. I'll probably keep wearing it a bit longer even though it's snagged too, because it's really comfy.
