After the gapping issue from my initial Simplicity 2443 dress, I have made quite a few changes to make the dress fit well. 1) I cut out a size 12 (one size down) 2) I shortened the shoulder straps by 1 in. total 3) I made a 1/2 in. dart at the sides seams in the bodice bands. I believe these 3 solutions eliminate the gapping and make for a much easier, more modest (but not prim) fit. This dress is crazy awesome. I love it. The pockets are big and well placed but hidden. The fit is sexy but not flauntingly so. The knit is forgiving and comfy. I am in love. However, this pattern is ridiculously hard to match stripes, as you can see. I am wearing the dress now because I have earned it. I put in many hours on getting this much loved design to work on my bod. But tomorrow I will rip back the bands and flip them over. The bands have a solid facing so I will just have the striped bodice with solid bands. I have already spent a lot of time matching the stripes at the tops of the bust and forgot about the center there. Even with all my work the stripes still don't match up well enough. Oh well. I will have some stripes just not as many as anticipated. I now feel well prepared for my 3rd 2443 which will be in a designer interlock for Fabric.com's blog coming up this month. I am so excited! All these alterations were made possible by the great fans on the Fabric.com Facebook page- thanks again!
Oh and in my post on the first version of this dress you can see the original form of the striped fabric: my husband's shirt. It looks way better now!
