Simplicity 3967

I bought this pattern from one of my favorite Etsy sellers, Midvale Cottage:



I made view 1 using a printed cotton and pink satin bias tape:





The pattern was very straight-forward to work with, but I'd sorta lost my sewing mojo so it took me a while to finish the dress. I wore it to a wedding last weekend, but apparently I'd also lost my blogging mojo, that's why it took me so long to get this posted, hehe.

This pattern is very similar to another wrap dress pattern I have previously made, namely Butterick 6914, but the construction of Simplicity 3967 is a lot better in my opinion. An example of this would be the fact the grosgrain ribbon used for the fastening of the back piece also works as a waist stay (I do apologize for my wonky stitches):



In comparison, the back piece of Butterick 6914 has no waist stay and just a little elastic to fasten it in front. Another problem I had with Butterick 6914, which I intend to correct, is how unruly the neck opening got because the instructions didn't mention anything about facings, although that probably would have been a good idea. While the instructions for Simplicity 3967 didn't call for any suppoort for the neckline either, I decided to apply a facing with fusible interfacing to the sweetheart neckline to have more control when sewing on the bias tape, and it worked like a charm. If you're going to make this pattern, I would recommend making some kind of facing with interfacing or maybe using stay tape. Whatever suits your fancy :)

Other than the addition of facings, I made the following alterations:

Shortened the skirt of the front part by a couple of inches.

Used bias binding instead of making a hem.

Used three sets of snaps instead of the suggested set of a hook and eye to fasten the back piece. I figured it would be a plus to be able to adjust the tightness of the back piece.

Made a series of small pleats when gathering the bust instead using the suggested gathering stitch.


So, what's up next? Well, I've just finished pre-shrinking the fabrics I'll be using for my summer projects, so now I just need to trace the patterns as I go. I hope to have at least one summer outfit finished by the end of this week, hopefully more :)