Simplicity 2363 Pattern Review
Pattern Description: Day to evening dress with front and back bib bodice. I made view C, short sleeveless without ties.
Pattern Sizing: Runs large, luckily I read Pattern Reviews that pointed out the 5” of ease this dress has, so I picked my size based on the finished measurements which put me in a 14 vs. the 18/20 the size guide said I should be, and it fit perfectly with out alterations, apart from the length since I’m only 5’ 3”. If you are short and want this dress to hit you right above the knee go ahead and shorten your pattern a good 3”, I think in total I chopped off 4” and had a wide hem. 
Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Were the instructions easy to follow? What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
My dress did look like the pattern photos. The directions were very good I felt, I never felt lost even though this was the first garment I’ve sewn for myself from a pattern. There was one part I wish I had done differently on the inside of the yoke, I wish I had just serged the edges and ‘stitched in the ditch’ on the yoke to line that area.
Fabric Used:
3 yards Navy Bottom Weight Poly Blend from Joann’s ($7.99/yd. on sale)
2 yards baby pom pom trim ($1.79/yd. also Joann’s)
Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
I decided to skip the trim on the yoke, since bisecting large boobs just makes them look even bigger.
Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
I’m so happy with this dress and look forward to making it in more colors, with a sweater it will be perfect for work. Thanks to all the great pattern reviews I was able to make the right size and pick a solid fabric.
 Conclusion:
Love my dress, it’s got pockets! Great pattern for an advanced beginner.
I compiled a collection of links to reviews that aren’t on Pattern Review in this Clipix board (Didn’t want to junk up Pinterest with a board for every pattern I like!) Great for looking at the pattern in lots of different fabrics. It might try and convince you to sign up, but it seems like it eventually gives up and lets you see the page. (I didn’t realize this super annoying feature until after I started using it).

My steps correspond with the pattern steps, so sew-a-long with me.

Laying out and cutting, I followed the cutting guide for the most part. This is where I realized the beauty of sewing doll clothes, layout and cut all in one go. Bottom Right: First part of step 1, interfacing the upper front sections (bib). Then stitch that center front seam and press.
The end of the step 3 should look like this, with the front skirt joined to the front bib

Then you do the same with the back & sew the shoulders together. This is a pic of the end of step 4. (In hindsight this was the time to serge the top gathers of the skirt front and back just in case your lining doesn’t match up perfectly).


I skipped the ties, so I skipped steps 5 & 6.
Steps 7-10 Inserting the pockets. I must have gotten excited about how not terribly hard pockets are and forgot to take pictures. Don’t skip the pockets! (I sewed all these parts then serged the seam allowance to make it no fray).
Step 11 : Interface, join, and serge your armhole facings.
Step 12 Sewing the facing to the sides.


Step 13  Understitching the facing, this was far less scary/difficult than I thought.
Step 14 This was confusing at first to me, but it’s just saying some how stitch that facing down so it doesn’t ‘roll' out’ when you wear it, I was able to finagle it into my machine and stitch the facing to to seam allowance.
Step 15 The big one, pinning and stitching it together. The key here is to keep the curves steady so you don’t end up with funny shaped boobs.

Step 15 Finally the beginning of the placket design, where things start to get more tricky.

First part is all good, sew the placket to the dot, then sew the shoulders together.
Then it tells you to press everything but the neckline under 5/8ths but then trim it down to 1/4”. I did this, it did not work out. (I sewed my step 15 seams 2 mm wider than the 5/8th seam allowance which may be why, but even still I don’t this this method is the easiest or the best).

Instead of Simplicity’s step 15, I think you should just serge those outside edges, and then press the ‘top of the armscye’ area so it catches as needed.
Step 17 & 18  No good photos of this, but this part went pretty well, you’re sewing the necklines together then pressing and understitching where you can, you won’t be able to understitch the whole placket, but do your best. Clip your corners and get the placket pressed how you want it before understitching, it’s a lot harder to ‘unwonky’ after understitching.
Step 19 This step was pretty confusing, and didn’t work out perfectly. Since I wasn’t going to trim the bib portion of the dress, I didn’t really want top stitching on that area, so I pinned it all, and then stitched the arm hole portions with a narrow seam, but then stitched in the ditch all  around the packet. This didn’t really work due to my 5/8th press, then trim to 1/4 I did in step 15. But if I had just serged the pattern pieces, and pressed up the armsyce areas as directed it would have worked perfectly.


Step 20 If you’re a shorty like me, you hack off a good 3” serge, press, and hem. Easy enough. Then pin and stitch your trim on top of that hem.
Completed inside and out photos:


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Linking up with Mine for the Making's DIY Diva Thursday.