Simplicity 8294

This is my second Simplicity 8294. My first one  is the version with the gathered skirt and cap sleeve. For this dress, I made the pleated skirt with the arm band. I knew I wanted to eventually make another one of these after my first. I love the collar and the buttons with the tabs is such a cute detail. When I saw this fabric from the new Rifle Paper Co collection, I had to have it! It comes in a navy color way but I just love the mint and how the colors in the print pop against it. I had a quick look through my patterns before ordering and knew this was a good choice! It works great with quilting weight cottons. Plus, I wanted something I made before and liked so I would feel confident cutting into this beautiful fabric!

I thought the blue chambray would be a nice compliment to the colors in this fabric and a nice change from just using white like my last one. I picked this up at Joanns and just used white buttons that I had in my stash. I used a regular zipper on the side as the pattern calls for. I do kind of wish I just used an invisible one, though! I find them easier to put in. I hardly ever insert regular zippers so they just don’t turn out exactly how I’d like them to. I basted it in first but I feel like it’s pulling/warping a little bit. It’s probably one of those things that’s only really noticeable to me. I don’t think I’ll bother trying to fix it but definitely making a note to use an invisible zip next time.

As far as fit, I made this before so I was pretty confident in making the same size as last time. It is a tiny bit more snug in the waist than I would like, though. So I may take a little bit out of the seam allowance on the side without the zipper. I also noticed that it’s a little tight around the arms, too. I made the cap sleeve version last time and didn’t have that issue. I have more of this fabric so I may eventually swap it out for the sleeve or make the arm a little bigger and sew in a longer arm band.

Mint and red is one of my favorite color combos so I love how it looks with my red flats on!

Overall I really love this dress, though. I see myself wearing it a lot this spring and summer. Don’t be surprised if you see me make another one of these!

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