Butterick 5880 a bit of '51 retro

I absolutely love this dress.  It's one of the favourite things I have ever made.  The pattern is Butterick 5880 which is one of their retro reproductions.  I loved Oona's version and despite her description of how time consuming it was,  couldn't wait to have a go myself.

The pattern illustrations are pretty gorgeous too.  Can you spot my deliberate mistake?  Yes I cut the overskirt the wrong way up and had to put the frill (would you call it a frill?) on the wrong side.    I don't think it really matters and in some ways its easier to have the gathers away from the zip.  Speaking of zips this was the hardest zip insertion I have ever had (which included fitting one side 3 times).  Do you think this is because the fabric, though woven is stretchy?  Should I have used some fusible interfacing to stabilize it?

I think its challenging a bit of my inner-bombshell (if I have one).  What you can see from this photo is that the fabric has a the ability to stretch quite a bit, which means that it is really comfortable.  It also meant that I ended up taking about 2 inches from the width of the skirt, but because the top is lined with non-stretch fabric I didn't reduce the width of the top.  That gave me a bit of a challenge in fitting the skirt to the bodice, but with some stretching as I sewed it made it work.  Other changes were my usual inch taken from the bodice length, 1/2 taken from the neck edge both at the front and the back and moving the notches in correspondingly.  I cut my usual size 14.  You can't see from the photos but there are two parallel bust darts which are interesting.

 

 

You can get a better idea of the fabric here.  It is a stretch imitation lace and I love it.  It sewed well but was difficult to press, and that's where a clapper is indispensable.  There is an over-skirt, which is makes a fan at the waist.  I am worried slightly that over time the weight of the frill might pull on the skirt in which case I could add a waist stay.

I lined the overskirt and bodice in bemsilk lining rather than using a self-lining because I think it would be too thick.  I love the neckline and managed the notches better than I thought I would.

I would definitely recommend this pattern, and if you are thinking of having a go can I also recommend this you tube tutorial which I found very useful with the difficult bits.  I'm wearing this on Wednesday night to my college's end of year show, the Adams' family, and looking forward to it.  Work has been pretty full on recently, so my sewing time and down time is particularly appreciated.  Have you made something you are particularly proud of recently?