Sewing | A Parisian Dream | Vogue 1102, 2960 + Mrs CT patterns

In December 2012, I bought some cotton/spandex material from the Goldhawk Road.  I had no plans to get material for a dress when I went down there, but I just couldn't pass it up - it was lust at first sight!  A wee while later, I saw a lady on the train to Glasgow wearing a trenchcoat from this same material, but my mind had already been set on a dress with a fitted bodice, boat neck and full skirt.  I had originally planned on the back being two triangles that closed at the top with a button, with a big triangle of exposed flesh below the centre-back, but then I thought about suntan lines.... and reverted to something more normal.  I used a couple of patterns - Vogue 2960 for the back and Vogue 1102 for the front.

The back consists of two sides exactly the same, other than there being loops for buttons on one side and buttons with an underlap on the other.

The skirt is simply two rectangles sewn together, with a series of box and knife pleats. The box pleat at centre back is only sewn on one half - the other half is closed via a dome at the (underside) edge of the pleat.  If I'm splitting hairs, I think that the back straps would be better if they were slightly longer/if the dip of the bodice was slightly lower - it would be more flattering if it didn't end at my widest point (exacerbated in the photo above where I'm doing something odd with my shoulders and arms, but it was the only good one of the back).  Objectively though, I'm not bothered by it at all - I've been wearing this with a black cardigan to work anyway.