Simplicity 2054 - Take Two

I made this dress back in November/December, but I had been thinking about making it since last winter, when I saw Erica Bunker's version here (from 2011).  Erica is one of the best-dressed sewing bloggers out there, and I love her style.  When I saw her version, I thought "hey, I've already got that pattern - Simplicity 2054!" In fact, I already made it (here).  However, Erica's dress has faux leather sleeves and I could not figure out how I would wash something like that.  So the idea kind of sat on the back burner.

Finally (over a year later -- this just shows the long, slow journey ideas in my head take before they actually materialize, IF they materialize at all) I saw some black dance knit in Joann Fabrics and thought, that's the fabric I've been looking for.  The body of the dress is a gray rib-knit, also from Joann.  This fabric came formed in a tube and was quite a bit narrower than regular knit fabric.  But it was the right weight and is very comfortable and worked great for this dress.

Now that I have made essentially the same dress twice, I want to repeat that this pattern goes together beautifully.  I made a size 14 and did my usual adjustment of adding an inch to each side, tapering out from under the arms.  I added to the length to make it knee-length.  It looks longer in this photo, perhaps because of the angle of the picture.

I used the black dance fabric for the arms and the neckband. This time I made view C, with the sleeve slits.  I added 2 inches of length to the upper part of the sleeve, and 3 more inches of length at the bottom of the wrist.  This seems like a LOT, but the sleeves fit, so maybe they run short?  Anyway, these sleeves make me feel like a superhero;)

This is one of the simplest dresses to make, just a plain front and back with neck binding and sleeves.  But I find that it is the simplest things that I tend to wear the most:  they are easy to put on, easy to care for, and easy to wear.

These photos were taken before winter had completely taken hold, hence the semi-green grass.  Now everything is cold, cold, cold and all that grass is brown and muddy.  When weather conditions are less than ideal, this dress can take you through the winter - both versions I've made are warm, cozy and comfortable.