pleated peasanty dress

Here is a dress that I really enjoy wearing, it was a vogue pattern that seemed more on the unusual side. It's a piece of cake to construct, all except for the pleating across the neckline--it took me forever.

The left picture is the first version I made, which is out of a super soft knit. While it's quite comfortable and flowy, the pleating was almost impossible to do nicely and it clings to the body so much, that wearing a tank top under it is needed, but looks silly. Also, the sleeves were too short, not coming all the way to my wrists. After several bouts of chucking that one at the wall during construction (because of the combination of knit fabric and my old sewing machine), I finally finished it, and promptly forgot about it. Now it's a pretty nice night gown.

About six months later I tried the same pattern with a linen/rayon blend fabric that I love. It was much easier to do the pleating, I used the half sleeves instead of the long ones, and I extended the hem slightly. This fabric gave a little more structure to the full sleeves and sashed skirt, which I like. It reminds me of a peasanty look. I also like it because it's an all seasons dress, cool enough for warmer weather, but substantial enough for cooler. It would definitely work well with leggings or pants under it. It falls into my category of dresses you can run around in, but it still could work at a semi-casual occasion.

Lesson learned: stay away from knit unless you know how to use it.

ps-I just found my old bow and arrows in my parents garage! Time to go get in some practice...