Black Retro Dress - Butterick 5603

Back to the retro dresses!  I was hoping this dress wouldn't be too much of a full skirt to get away with wearing at the office. I chose a black polyester that had a lot of give.  Not quite lycra, but probably close.  This time I cut the pattern to my size, trying to get away from my fear of cutting the pieces too small and ruining the fabric.

Here is the pattern cover.

I still ended up taking in the sides because I wanted it to be snug like the picture on the pattern and I figured because it is spandex, I had a little room to play with.

Unfortunately, I ended up taking in too much at the armhole.  It felt fine when I was sewing and fitting, but then when I wore it to work, the zipper rubbed too much at the armpit and was really uncomfortable by the end of the day.

The front should have a bow on it, but I didn't add one.

On this pattern, I found the edging around the front to be challenging.  The back V-neck was very difficult to understand how to attach.  I did youtube searches for how to make a v-neck but didn't find much.

Here are the results - It isn't great so far.  I'd love to find a tutorial that teaches a v-neck better than the pattern did.

Next step:  take apart the zipper and arm hole to make a little more room and re-do the v-neck in back.  The fit is great and I like the style of the pattern, so I would definitely make it again.