Dress of a million seams

And I'm not even joking about the number of seams! Just look at the technical drawing ;) Melissa dress is super lovely and has many interesting design features (just check out those little pockets!) I was one of the testers for this pattern last year and I've been meaning to give it another go.

I made a huge mistake with my fabric choice... Poly-rayon suiting looked alright and had nice drape but frayed like crazy! It has also absolutely no give and I was too afraid of clipping it around the curves. All the seams are finished with a combination of black and mint bias tape which added a huge amount of extra work but super tidy finish. My poly-rayon wasn't easy to press either, there was a very fine line between pressing and melting the fabric.

As for the dress itself - the back V insert is a great opportunity to use scraps of lace or "statement" fabrics. I used some black lace generously given to me by Sandra. As for the fit - I chose size 40 with D-cup and there was no need for FBA :D  The first time I made Melissa I didn't change anything and the waistline was way too low. This time I moved it up by 7 cm (I think) and it's a too high! The other change I made was getting rid of a top V pocket. I almost always have to adjust shoulder line and scoop out a bit of the top of the shoulder princess seam and that pocket would make the fitting quite hard. And there was just one more change - I made my dress sleeveless. I couldn't face dealing with more bias bound seams! The collar took three tries to get it right - including me sewing the collar inside out *facepalm* By that time I was a bit over and the dress ended in a naughty corner for a few weeks.

When I got over the collar, the rest went nice and easy. I used black buttons with gold metal ring and I like the way they look. Overall I like the dress but I'm not crazy about it. Lower waistline and different fabric would make a huge difference and I suspect I might give this pattern another try ;)