Simplicity 2588

Loosely inspired by 500 Days of Summer (again)

I am fairly certain that almost every girl that has watched this movie drooled over this dress. One day I would love to try to create a close match, but for now I have made a dress that somewhat channels the style, but is a more casual version. I really like the center bodice bow and the baby blue color. This pattern had lots of options and pattern pieces to be creative with. I've been quite happy with the Project Runway line that Simplicity has. This is what I came up with:

 I used a very lightweight broadcloth - inexpensive, but surprisingly feels quite nice. I used white satin ribbon as a decorative touch around the bodice and hem. The only step I found mildly frustrating with this pattern was the neckband (and that could just be because I am a novice). I ended up handstiching the facing along the neckband. I altered the length a bit - probably shortened it ~4 inches? Conveniently I applied the ribbon around the bottom right on top of my hem line, allowing me to machine stitch the hem and save time.  I applied the ribbon with Stitch Witchery, which fuses it on and makes the task very simple and fast. The ribbon doesn't perfectly come together in the back, but overall it looks decent. The placement of my zipper looks a tad flawed too because there seems to be too big of a space left at the neck, but oh well. Not bad for my third dress project.