Laced in Butterick 5672 - The Last Dress Made in 2011

Happy New Year!

I can't believe how quickly time flies.  Over the next few weeks, I will review my last projects made in 2011.  During the holiday break, I tried to spend as much time as possible sewing and setting sewing goals for 2012. .., 2012 that's sounds funny.  This month I will post my favorite garment made during 2011.  It's been a great year.

Anyway, I'm still working off my fall trend list of things to make.  Lace is a favorite of mine.  But how many lace dresses can a lady have?  The last lace dress made, 2008, which I hate to admit is a little snug.  Good thing is, I can whip a new dress up in a few hours.  And this new dress was a easy one to make.


I used Butterick 5672 to create this dress. It's described as close-fitting, lined dress that has left side invisible zipper, left dart and left pleats from drape effect. The pattern is available in sizes 8 through 22. JoAnn only had size FF when I went to buy it. I purchased it anyway cutting it at size 16. I ended up scaling it down a bit as it was too big for me.  I normally start with a 14.

Butterick's photo and drawing match my finished version of this dress. And the instruction were easy to follow.

The reviews on Pattern Review and in blogland encouraged me to try this one out. It suits me. The drapery and pleats help define my waist a bit. The classic look is perfect for me. And it was super easy to make.

I really like how this pattern comes together. It's important to note, I didn't need to insert a side zipper to get into the dress. Could be a combination of the stretch in the fabric and the width of the neck. It's large enough to get into the dress with no problem at all.

This lovely lace knit was purchased, where else, Vogue on Roosevelt Rd. It was about 45" width and only about 2 1/2 left on the bolt. I bought all of it. Fitting all of the pattern pieces as designed was a challenge. I played Tetris for a while before coming to the conclusion to cut the back skirt in two pieces with a center back seam and to shorten the sleeves by a inch or two. It worked out fine.

Butterick recommended moderate stretch knits only. This fabric had a lot of stretch. I want to say about 40 percent. I did follow the recommendation for the lining, tricot. Second note of caution: The drapery/pleats causes the hem to hang slightly uneven. And because the skirt is cut on the bias, I waited 24 hours before hemming.

I made my usual adjustments plus the changes above. The illustrations can be found on Flickr.

I don't think I will sew it again for myself.  ..,many dress patterns in the collection I want to try. But I do recommend it to my fellow sewists. It's a great look.

I really like the styling and fit of this dress. It enabled me to fulfill one of the fall 2011 fashion trends.