I have made the Garden Party dress twice now, and I just want to record a few changes I made in case it would interest anyone else:
*After tracing the front piece I cut my pattern apart along the basting line so I could mark along it on the fabric (taped back together again for next time.)
*Ran 5 lines of basting instead of 3. Sounds excessive, but worked well for the thin fabric I used and kept the gathers better in check.
*Interfaced (lightweight fusible) the entire back facing and also the outer shoulder pieces, the outer front yoke piece, and both the front and back belt pieces. I felt these pieces needed a bit of extra stiffness, and it seemed to work well.
*Added 1/4″ length to shoulder pieces to give the neckline a tiny bit more depth. Probably not a big enough change to make a significant difference, though.
*Added 4″ in length to the front and back skirt pieces.
*Attached hem tape and then hand-stitched a 2″ hem to make a longer dress, a deeper, more substantial hem, and to eliminate machine stitching at the hem.
*Used tiny hook and eye instead of button at back opening.
Photos of finished dress posted in Flickr pool.
