Vintage Butterick 9566: Cotton + Steel Picnic Dress

AHH! This dress came out better than I expected, don't you love when that happens?  I have been dreaming of this dress for months waiting for the Cotton + Steel fabric to arrive at Fabricland (we had to wait for the second printing!). I just love the vintage vibe to it, I mean it has Pyrex on it! When it finally arrived the print was a lot bigger than I was imagining, so I was stumped of what dress to make with it. Finally I remembered Butterick 9566.

This is my second version of Vintage Butterick 9566. The first one is my Christmas dress, which is one of my favorite dresses, so I thought another one was in order! The bodice was already fitted, I did an FBA, and made the sleeves bigger than the original pattern. I also angled the bust dart more like a french dart, which I think gives it such a good fit. There is only thing I need to change about the pattern if I make it again, the sleeve has too much ease, it's hard to get it to fit without any blips. 

 What I like most about the pattern, is the opportunity to add my favorite thing: RICK RACK.  I think I bought 6 yards of this rick rack which is woven in different pastel colors, and that still wasn't enough. I was planning on doing another row at the hem so I might go and buy some more for that. The rick rack is all around the neckline, down the front of the buttonhole side bodice, around the sleeves and all around the hem. 

The buttons are adorable and very special. They are from the world famous sewing cave of Diary of a Sewing Fanatic! Thanks Carolyn! I had these in my stash and they are the perfect thing, so lucky!

Needless to say, I am very happy with the dress and thinking of more versions of it!