I got one thing SO right while making this dress that the FOUR things I screwed up don’t even matter anymore.

The dart rotation dry run from my last post worked out well enough to make something longer than a crop top. So, I drafted a skirt onto my modified Simplicity top to make a simple shift dress with a gathered neckline.

This rayon challis from my stash has just the right amount of drape without being flimsy, making the neckline gathers drape all lovely-like. And, even though the abstract floral print looks like drunk fireworks, I’ve grown to love it now that it’s sewn up.

Alas, here is why I nearly set fire to the dress:

1. A malevolent force distorted the back shoulder seamline at some point, forcing me to improvise with a shoulder dart.
2. I sewed the bias binding I was so proud of cutting to the wrong side of my gorgeous neckline and had to finagle it in place with a lot of unplanned handstitching.
3. I didn’t test fit the pattern’s original sleeves (hope and denial are unreliable sewing tools) and discovered a mile of ease in the sleeve cap that I reluctantly gathered to fit. The sleeve ended up poofing out a bit too much, so I sewed a tiny pleat in the sleeve hem to tame things.
4. Just when I thought it was over, I tried on the dress and the pockets were like two inches too low on the side seams. What? Really!?

I finished the hem with a frown and tried it on one last time to confirm the dress was indeed a wadder. But, wait a minute….Hey, girl, what’s your name?….it didn’t look so bad. Kinda cute, actually. The neckline gathers are so pretty, they just draw the eye up and away from my shitty construction secrets.

Rescuing this dress from arson was a confidence boost. My sewing skills are horribly rusty after such a long hiatus and projects like this remind me to take the “L” off my forehead and keep sewing.

The Four Wrongs Make a Nice Dress. My kind of math.