Butterick 6722 in thrifted purple

 

One of the things I finished in August was a purple dress that I've wanted to make for a while - ever since I thrifted this purple fabric a year ago! It was a slightly narrower fabric but I had over 3 m. so I thought I'd be fine. I was waffling between two Butterick patterns, 6758 and 6722, which I bought around the same time. They are quite similar, but I ended up going with 6722 because I liked the bodice more. 

I made View B, which has one ruffled tier at the bottom. I'm not really a big ruffle person, but I like it in this design. This went together very easily. The front skirt has a placket and buttons, but the waist is an elastic one so I knew I wouldn't need the actual buttonholes. I sewed it all together then stitched black buttons through both plackets as permanent buttons (you can barely see them anyhow). 

One note, if you are planning on making this with actual buttonholes -- the instructions have you sew it all together and then insert the buttonholes last, while wrangling the whole dress and the sewn together top of the placket. I would definitely sew the buttonholes in before attaching the skirt to the bodice to make it easier on yourself. 

Anyhow, the rest is pretty straightforward. View B has little slits on the top of the sleeves but I wasn't keen on that detail so sewed them up quite normally (and boringly I suppose, but it works for me!). I considered adding the sleeve bands from View A but thought they might weight down this fabric too much. I'm glad I went with just a plain sleeve as I really like it as finished. 

The sash tie is quite long but I think it all works nicely together. As usual for me, I cut a 14 at the neck, 16 at bust and 18 at waist. It fits well. And I moved the pocket bag up to be caught in the waist seam to reduce flopping. I know I shortened both bodice and skirt but can't remember exactly how much as it was a month ago -- I believe I only shortened the bodice by 1/2" and the skirt pieces by 1" each but am not 100% sure any more! In any case, it's such a rich purple and I'm so pleased I have finally used it. This was a fun project started at the beginning of August and completed quickly. I really like this!