The Little White Dress {Simplicity 2209}

White dresses keep catching my eye this summer.  I believe it all stems from a lovely lady I saw walking in DC earlier this year in a crisp cotton shirt dress, blue canvas sneakers, and a straw bag on her arm. Since I loved my little red dress (posted in two parts, here and here) made with the Lisette Simplicity pattern 2209, I thought this would be a great pattern to use to create my own look.  I went with a light weight embroidered cotton for my fabric.  It is somewhat sheer, so I added a thin white cotton lining to the bodice, while leaving the skirt unlined.  I followed the same path as I wrote about early, however, altering four things. 

  

One, since the fabric is sheer, I made a very small hem using a serged edge as a guide, not a binding strip. This hem ended up being close to an 1/8" in width.

Secondly, I switched the direction of the front darts.  My red dress has the darts facing outward; my white dress has the darts facing inward.  (I still think the directions are poorly written.)  Changing the dart directions does change the way the front looks.  The white dress does not have a point where the top and bottom pieces connect. The red dress on the other hand forms a triangle nearly an inch from the skirt. 

Thirdly, I aligned the skirt darts in the front rear.  I think this is a great improvement with small effort. The first picture below is of the front, and the second is the back.  If I had followed the pattern markings, the middle darts on both skirt pieces would be located about a 1/4 inch from the bodice darts.

Lastly, when assembling the skirt, I used french seams.  I do opt for french seams often because they finish the inside of project in a very professional manner.  French seams are sturdy which can be a downside of the technique since it also can be equated with bulky.  The fabric used here was thin so the project was not affect much. 

I do recommend that you try this pattern.  Simplicity patterns are often on sale at JoAnn's for about one dollar, and I think you will find this a bargain for such a great dress.  I've been thinking of making the jacket for this fall, but I am stumped by which fabric to use. 

Did I mention FALL?  Is it that time already? 

 

For more, visit patternreview.com or the solittletimecrafts.blogspot post.