Friday Fashions MIA, Friday Fashion #15, Gray and Yellow Dress

So, my loyal followers might have noticed that my brilliant plan to sew something for myself every Friday has been MIA for a few months.  It is so hard to complete a personal sewing project every week and still work on my other projects.  I'm really having a hard time managing it. 
I actually have made several items that I need to post about.  However, I am slow at posting.  A good post takes me an unhealthy amount of time. Plus, by the time I have finished my fabulous project, the lighting is WRONG for a good completed picture and Mr. Right is patiently waiting for our weekly date.  I cannot postpone a date with MR. RIGHT to write a note to my internet friends on this blog.  I love all of you, but, I love Mr. Right more.   So, the posts get pushed back to the next day, and then the next, and next, etc.  Add to that, I had about 5 sewing FLOPs in a row.  Who wants to post about a project gone bad?  Not me.  So my motivation is close to zero. Comprende?
I'm actually having a hard time getting any projects done this summer.  We have just been very busy as a family, and with the kids home, I'm barely even getting the essential housekeeping items completed.  And, based on this photo, most could probably say that I'm not even managing those essentials. 

Its taken me about 6 hours to fold my mountain of laundry.  I still have a laundry basket full of the clean items I need to iron.  I'm slowly working my way through the Harry Potter movies...
With Anakin on summer break and Buzz starting preschool in the Fall, I am really trying to focus on spending good, quality time with them.  Which means that I have not been crafting during Mr. Bean's afternoon naptime.  At the moment, my downtime is only in the evenings.  And, because we have gone on several weekends trips this summer, I'm working my shifts at the hospital midweek, and therefore have few evenings free. As a result, my alotted craft time is next to nothing right now.   School starts August 1st, so my schedule should calm down slightly.  But, with a nephew's baby blessing and my sister's wedding, we will continue to travel during the month of August despite school.

I just counted my Friday Fashion posts.  I've posted 14 times.  If I were on top of my self-imposed schedule, I would have posted 27 projects by this week. Yikes!  I don't know if I can catch up from that, but I will try. Today, I'm going to go ahead and post one of my flops.  Because I've spent several hours on Fridays making these flops, I will post all of them eventually.   I plan on remaking each of them eventually into something that I will actually wear, so you will get to see the remodels too.   I've learned something from each of my flops and maybe my readers can learn from my mistakes and avoid the same problems.

Friday Fashion # 15, Gray and Yellow Summer Dress
I saw this fabric at Joann's and I fell in love with it.

It happened to be on sale for 50% off, so each yd was only going to be $5.  I found this Simplicity pattern that I thought looked darling, on sale for $1.99.

Version B calls for 2yrds.  Add $3 for an invisible zipper, and $2 for matching gray thread and I was ready to sew a dress for about $17.  The fabric is fantastic.  It ripples and drapes beautifully. 

Too bad the pattern is awful!!!  It does absolutely nothing for my figure and the fit is poor at that.  The highwaist is just a little too high.  The waistband hits me way too high, before the bottom of my bosum.

 It makes me look like I am 5 months pregnant.  Which I am not!  I might not be skinny, but I am not as fat as this dress makes me look.

On this picture, I drew in my silhouette.  Notice that the bodice needs to be larger and the waist subsequently a little lower to accommodate my figure.  I don't know how to alter patterns well enough to change this.  Now, patterns are written for women with a B cup.  So, even when you sew a larger size, the cup size is still a B.  I don't know very many women that don't increase in cup size when they gain weight.  I certainly do.  I haven't been a B cup since highschool when I was 35 lbs thinner.   Recently the pattern companies seem to be catching on and there have been a bunch of patterns recently released that have alterations included for different cup sizes and shapes. My mom is sewing me a sheath from one of these patterns for my youngest sister's wedding, so I will let you know what I think about it when the time comes.
Lets talk about the bodice.  The pleats are a nice idea for the bosum, but the pattern has a snug lining. So, I am left with a too snug lining and the fabric bunching on the outside.  Not cool.

The sleeves are awful.  There is no movement in them.  So tight and they pull on the dress awkwardly. 
I will never wear this dress as it is. I just don't feel like I look attractive in it at all.   I am so bummed.  This was going to be my Easter dress.  Instead, it has lain in a heap on my sewing room's floor for the past 3 months.
My plan?  There is enough fabric in the dress's skirt that I am going to chop off the bodice and somehow change the skirt portion of the dress into a regular skirt.  I haven't completely decided on the specifics, but that is my general idea.  I would rather have had a nice fitting dress, but since that didn't work and I can't really see any way of salvaging this dress into a new dress, I will change it to a skirt.