Formal wrap dress with knit fabric

With a last minute scramble, I have to find a suitable outfit for a wedding that is less than a week away. My preference is to make it of course, also because all the stunning dresses I've seen in stores are in different shades of brown. Igg. Unfortunately the browns and yellows in the winter colors don't work with my complexion very well.

I've decided on a lengthy wrap dress, in a woven knit fabric and went to a local fabric store in search of something suitable and found a stunning knit fabric (below), that I think will do the trick.

There are tiny gold flecks in the fabric and the colors are perfect! And I can pair the dress with a formal dark green coat on the night.



So, now for the dress pattern. I would like to do a longer wrap dress this time, with raglan sleeves and couldn't find such a pattern so I had to settle on a course of 'franken-pattern'.
Wrap Dress Burda 10/2011

Wrap dress Burda 4/2015

First, I traced the top pieces from the April 2015- model and then the skirt pieces of the Oct 2011-model, both in size 40. No need even to draft a new pattern, just cut out the pieces and sew together. I did do a quick check to make sure the skirt and top pieces match up at the waist widths.

Then on to the construction of the dress. I normally like to start with the overlocker to neaten all the edges. Next step is stitching of darts



At this point, the bust darts are completed on the front and back pieces, following with the shoulder seams. The facings are then stitched together at the should seams and attached to the neck line of the dress.



Here are the 2 sleeves lay out flat. By merging the 2 pattern pieces together I only had to stitch the curved shoulder dart.

           

And here is the dress, completed and pressed, hanging on the dress-form. It fits perfectly over the bust and neck and the waist closure is also very comfortable.



The dress is a bit long as I added a few cm's to the bottom seam and now the skirts ends up feeling heavy, so I might decide to shorted a bit at a later stage, but for now I like the longer length and will keep it this way.



And here is a photo of me wearing the dress to a party this past weekend. Actually, now that I've worn it again and had a good look at it in the daytime, I think I'm ok with the length as it is!
So, now I can work on some of my unfinished projects that are waiting for my attention... I did manage to make a few Barbie outfits this weekend. Those quick, spur of the moment projects are always the best!