A Walk on the Wild Side

For my next project, I was totally inspired by this style of dress by BCBGMaxazria (Picture is from its website).  I love the boat neck and how the top blouses, but the skirt portion is very fitted.  I didn't really have a pattern in my stash that was a perfect match but I found Simplicity 2863 a good place to begin. 

To construct my dress I used view C of the above mentioned pattern.  I didn't add the tabs to the sleeves, since I don't plan to roll them up, and I cut four inches off the hem.  The designer dress has much wider sleeves, but I preferred my sleeves to be more narrow at the hem.  I didn't have enough fabric for the top back piece to be cut on the fold, so my version has a center back seam. 

Next, I determined how short I wanted the finished dress to be keeping in mind that I wanted the narrowest part of the look at my low waist.  For me, a comfortable length was 18" from my low waist.  The fabric is a rayon viscose jersey from Emma One Sock, which I fell in love with the minute it was posted, and has a lot of stretch.  I also wanted the fabric to be doubled on the skirt.  My hip width is 36".  I cut a square of fabric 36" wide and 36" long, which is double the length of the skirt.  I then sewed the square into a tube and folded the tube wrong sides together.  I basted the top of the skirt together. I was now ready to attach my top to my bottom using a zigzag stitch and letting the top edge hang over the skirt edge by about 5/8".  I also sewed a 5/8" seam which gave me 1 1/4" to make a casing for my 1" elastic.  With the elastic in place the dress was complete. 

Voila!  Here it is.  I love this dress.  I am wearing it with a wide black belt.  This dress is so comfortable and has some edginess to it, just what I wanted with this fabric.

Close-up of neckline: