I made this dress for an opening that Michael and I went to this weekend. It's Butterick 5211 and it was mucho fun and beyond easy. The fabric is a strange polyester blend that looks like woven wool (it was from Jo-Ann's in the business suit-y section). The pattern was very straightforward and true-to-size for me. Meaning, I made the size I usually do. Does anyone else sort of not pay attention to the measurements on patterns for sizes? The Selfish Seamstress talked about the bizarro world of pattern sizing here and I've found it to be totally whacked myself. I've wasted so much time and fabric on things that were four sizes too big because I followed the size measurements on the pattern. Now I just ignore them and make my usual dress size and that seems to work way more often than not. Except for pants. Pants patterns never work for me. And if they actually fit, they look like slacks, and nobody wants that.
Anyway, I made the size I usually do and adjusted the skirt so that it was a little more a-line than the pattern called for (which was not at all). I also lengthened the skirt a generous two inches or so because I don't like my skirts above the knee. The hip pockets seemed like too much extra baggage so I left those out, too.
But that's it! I do believe it's one of my faves and I plan on making this pattern many times over again this spring and summer, and next time I'm going to try a cute print.
