Simplicity 8172 done!

I've completed my cotton lawn version of Simplicity 8172, version "C":

I made a muslin of the XS size out of my bolt of weedblock fabric - I would normally cut a S in Simplicity and my measurements are a medium, to give you an idea of the amount of ease here. This size meets right at my chest comfortably (I'm going to add a hook).




The fabric is a lightweight lawn that I bought at fabric.com after falling in love with the floral print.  But I had no idea what I wanted to make out of it!  We'll see if this actually gets any use - it's so busy and girly that it really only works with solid-colored dresses.  I think it'd be fine with my favorite navy linen dress, so I'll try wearing that next week.  Pictures are with shorts, which does not look quite right!



Changes I made:

1: There is no reason to cut the back as two separate pieces - if you are wearing this as a jacket, that just means one more very visible seam to finish off. I cut on the fold to avoid this.

2:  I liked how this pattern swoops around, with the peplum starting right below the bust in front and then lengthening in the back.  But it was originally kind of extreme!!! I took 3 (THREE!) inches off of the bottom back edge (not the peplum, the upper piece), so that the peplum would start at the small of my back instead of right in the middle of my bum. Wow, it looked droopy before. Imagine 3 extra inches in the back in the photo above!  This necessitated taking a little bit out of the upper edge of the peplum so that I wouldn't have gathers.

3: I reduced the peplum itself (slash and overlap) by about 10" total along the bottom edge. I made three slashes in the back and front pattern pieces and overlapped a little under an inch in each, then taped and smoothed out the curve. Honestly, I could have taken out more and it would still have a lot of swoosh to it.

Back photo - you can see that I could really raise the back a teensy bit more to have it hit right at the small of my back.  And wow, it does look silly with shorts.



I finished the front edge with some brown grograin ribbon that I had instead of bias. I wanted a bit of structure there. 

If I make this again, I'll take a teensy bit more out of the flounce in back, perhaps 1 more inch.  It's just a bit too exaggerated for my liking.

Man oh man, I think that the fabric is pretty.