Rifle and Co: Birch Floral

Another Rifle and Co. rayon dress!  I wrote on Monday that this dress was a hot mess to start with.  I actually made this dress in February in anticipation of my spring rotation.  My first mistake was trying to make an elastic waistband ala The Staple Dress.  I really like the shape of that dress, and the pattern is actually very similar to the Simplicity 1080 I use for these dresses.

I realize that the Staple Dress pattern calls for elastic shirring instead of an elastic waist band, but I figured the end effect would be similar and an elastic waist band is a lot easier to unpick than shirring.  So I went for it.  And regretted it.  The dress looked awful--the top looked two or three sizes too big,  the elastic in the middle added visual weight to my midsection, and the whole thing just hung weirdly on me.

I was really disappointed, as this fabric had been a birthday present from my husband last summer, and I was really excited to use it.  I unpicked the elastic waist band and set in tucks in the front which helped considerably.  I did retrofit them, so the tucks are a bit deeper than how they are on the pattern, but I think it works.

  The sleeves are still a bit big on me (I don't really know why--I cut this exactly the same as I always do--maybe the fabric shifted a bit during cutting), but taking the front in and redoing the back elastic helped the fit on the top a lot.  This dress also came out slightly longer than my other dresses off the same pattern, so I think the fabric must have shifted a bit during chalking/cutting.

The next problem was the pocket.  I had originally put a kangaroo pocket on the dress, but it just hung strangely and looked bad.  I kept looking at this dress in my closet and not wanting to wear it because the pocket looked so bad.  Well, this rayon was expensive enough that I wanted to salvage the dress!  (Plus I really like the print)  After the pocket success of my Painted Roses rayon, I knew I had to switch out the pocket for the patch pockets, so I did that last Friday morning and now I'm super happy with this dress!  (I made another rayon dress at the same time as this one and I will have to do the same thing to that dress as well)

I don't remember right now, but I think I cut the back piece in between my old back piece and the front piece--so probably 5/8" off both side seams.  I had a couple of dresses that I cut this way before I decided to just cut the back and front the same width (which is just right).

I again layered a navy blue long sleeve shirt underneath for warmth and added a heavy weight cotton sweater and cotton-wool cowl over top.  The combination is a nice one for warmth and comfort.  It was particularly damp and chilly the day I wore this dress--I got rained on as I was finishing up taking photos!

The print is a little bolder than what I usually go for, but I like it.  All in all, a success!  I'm glad I stuck with the fitting and design changes, because I think it is a great addition to my closet.

Just the facts:

Birch Floral dress: Rifle and Co. for Cotton+Steel rayon challis fabric (from the Les Fleurs line); Simplicity 1080 (redrafted), elastic, bias binding

Undershirt: Loft via ThredUp

Sweater: LLBean (from last spring)

Cowl: me-made from Main Street Reserve cotton-wool yarn

Earrings: etsy

Tights: Foot Traffic Signature Cotton Tights in Navy via Sock Dreams

Boots: BOC Faye via Macy's (from two autumns ago)