Mele Kalikimaka and a New Dress

...and as the card says, "May your holidays be happy and bright."  There is a lot of excitement here in our home.  We've made cookies with friends this week,  we've placed the 23rd ornament on our Jesse Tree, (we'll put the 24th on tonight), and we've enjoyed watching holiday movies together.  My boys are so excited for tomorrow!  Having children in the house sure adds to the excitement.

I've had the knit dress from Simplicity 2443 finished for a couple of days now while I worked on a coordinating jacket.  I probably should have made the jacket that comes with this dress, but I was worried it would go out of style too fast or I would grow tired of it, since it is so distinctive.   Ah, but once again I was foiled by making a style blunder.  The jacket I made and this dress don't work together all that well.  But it's okay, because I love both pieces and if you've been reading my blog for a while you know I will just make another piece to go with the jacket!  So for today I would like to show you the knit dress.  I was attracted to the fact that it is a simple knit dress, but it has interesting style lines with the front and back band at the top. 

I eliminated the zipper on the side seam.  My fabric is a stretchy matte jersey, but I am not sure of the content.  I had the most difficult time setting in the curved areas on the front and back bodice.  Even though there are no puckers, those tight curves are a bit wrinkled.  I may just need to clip or press more, but it doesn't bother me too much.   In my opinion, this dress is super casual.  I can just slip it over my head and go.  There are on seam pockets.  I cut a size 12 and the only alteration I made was to trim the bottom of the back bodice about 1" so that it didn't sit lower than the front.  I don't have plans to make this again simply because it is just too finicky setting in those tight curves.  But overall, I am pretty happy to have tried this pattern, and this dress will be worn.   Just look how much room I have for maneuvering!