The LBD -- Makin' Progress

 
My little black dress is steadily taking shape.  I put alot of time into it this weekend.  Cutting out the pattern pieces, even though there were only 4 of them (8 if you count the lining) took some time since I had to put in all those tailor tacks.


I read and re-read the instructions, and I've never put a dress together like this one before.  The front lining gets attached to the front and the back lining gets attached to the back before the front and the back are attached to each other.  I swore I was never going to follow Butterick's instructions again, but I think I'm stuck on this one because of the cap sleeves.  I've looked at the pattern pieces upside and backwards and I can't think of a better way to do it, even though I don't like it.

As for the sewing, the darts are in all the pieces, and they turned out to be harder than I expected.  The fabric is drapey, making it harder to get the darts just right.  The front bust dart I think I sewed four times and I'm still not particularly happy with it.

Also, I've got the front attached to the front lining.  Here it is pinned onto my dress form but it's really hard to see much.  The last Butterick dress I made the front neckline almost reached my navel.  I'm keeping an eye out for the same phenomena here.  And it's turning out a little slinkier than I thought because of how drapey the fabric is.  But I'm withholding judgement for now.

So all that's left is attaching the back to the back lining, installing the zipper, and then attaching the front to the back.  And the hem.  And hand sewing the lining to the zipper.  You know, little details like that :o)