Land's End style knit dress
I love the clothes from Land's End. But it's hard to get just the right fit and I don't necessarily like their prices! After getting their recent catalog I decided to try and make my favorite dress style first.
The pattern was drafted with PatternMaster Boutique. I used a dress style with waist and side darts (but I didn't sew the waist dart and eased the side dart out), jewel neck, turtleneck collar, gathered skirt with a slight flare and inseam pockets.
Here is the front of the dress:
It looks pretty good and is very comfortable. I'm not crazy about the waistline... I have to figure out what I did "wrong" so I can do it better next time. I just couldn't figure out how to get the elastic to stop wrinkling as I sewed it on. And I never quite got the gathering of the skirt right. I'm going to have to do some reading on knits and see what I can do differently next time to get a smoother fit, more even gathers and maybe even figure out how to do the covered waistband that is called out in the catalog.
Here's the back view:
Everything except the elastic was done on the serger. The hem is coverstitched.
Here is the neckline detail:
This was the first time I had tried the turtleneck collar. I was very nervous that it wouldn't fit over my head but it went great. Next time I will cut the neck a little smaller -- in my paranoia I widened it. Gotta trust my fabric and pattern!!
Here is the cuff and pocket detail:
It's nice to have a dress with sleeves long enough to actually go to my wrists! Many RTW dresses are too short in the arm for me.
All in all, this was an easy dress to assemble. I will certainly make it again!