Butterick 5706 -- Lace Dress

I made this dress at the very beginning of March -- just in time to wear it to my friend Janette's daughter's wedding.  I also wore it as my Easter dress.  The black and silver lace is from Joann Fabrics.  It was the end of the bolt and I paid around $13 for all of it (I still have a sizeable piece left to use for something else later).  I have been wanting to try making a lace dress.  I have a few patterns that use lace, but I chose Butterick 5706 view D, partly because it was labeled "easy" and  also I didn't want to have to cut the lace up into lots of pieces.  There were only three pattern pieces to cut out:  the front, the back, and the sleeves (plus the lining).

Close up of the sleeve and fabric

The lining fabric is a muted silver satiny solid from Hancock Fabrics.  I'm not sure of its name, but it does not fray at all, which is nice.  I cut a size 14, but I added 1 inch to the side seams starting under the arms and I added 1/2 inch to the length.  I also added 1/2 inch to the sleeve length and did a full bicep adjustment on the sleeves. In retrospect I wish I hadn't done any of this except for the bicep adjustment because the dress turned out a little big, and that made it look frumpy.  It needed to fit closer to look right and I ended up taking most of what I added to the seams back out.  I also wish I had made the dress shorter, but because the lace is cut on the edge there's no way to shorten it.  I will just take comfort that I've heard hemlines are getting longer again;)

The pattern was labeled "easy" and there were no problems with the directions.  However, sewing with this lace was like sewing blind -- I could not see what I was doing or even where I had already stitched, and marking the fabric was almost impossible.  (I used a universal needle and a narrow zigzag to sew the lace parts).  Also, this was the first time that I have put in a conventional zipper.  Probably not the wisest move to put your first zipper in on a lined, lace dress, and it certainly is not perfect. But I'm very happy to report it works, and now I will not have to be afraid of zippers.

Erratic zipper application

This dress is very comfortable to wear, and I already have plans to use the pattern again. I will say that it turned out more "afternoon" and less "evening" than I had anticipated.  That's really okay because my life has lots more afternoon events than it does evening ones anyway.