Easy striped dress, another SBCC pattern...

I'm very late on blogging for 2 reasons: first I was Panama for a training last week (bought indigenous fabrics, so pretty!!) and second, my free time has been dedicated to finding a new house in Port-au-Prince to move in with The Old Man (picture at the end of this post).BUT sewing has still been happening. Altought at a reduced pace... I was very happy with the results of my first try with SBCC patterns, so I decided to go ahead and buy another one. Although I like the fit of these patterns, I'm not sure how many of the current offering I will make because the patterns are not exactly my style.Anyway, I settled for the Lemon Drop Dress. Unlike what is shown on the technical sketch below, the dress and the tops have a pleat detail at the center front.Overall the fit is extremely close to perfect. The dress is comfortable and it's a very easy project. It also helped that I now know you are supposed to butt the pages together and not overlap them (Pattern Review proving it's still indispensable...)The fabric is a vintage linen-and-something-blend that I got during my last trip to Paris. I know I promised that I would make a post about the fabrics I got there but I did not manage to see Lakaribane since I came back and I don't want to spoil the surprise fabric I brought for her... Going back to this fabric, I know this is a blend because it does not wrinkle (YAY!!) but it still has a very natural/raw feel to it.As I was saying, the fit in the armhole area is excellent (no gaping, YAY!!) and slight racerback is quite nice.It's a very easy dress to wear and even though it is quite simple in its shape, I got compliments when I wore it to the office (with flat sandals, shiny gold heels are not exactly logistics-base-approved).For the construction, I have to admit that I was slightly disappointed. Only because the instructions of the free pattern were so good. For this dress, the instructions are very succinct. Here is what I did :1. Prepare the back bend and sew it on the back. Sew the darts on the front.2. Sew one shoulder seam (yes only one), with a french seam3. Sew the bias binding on the neckline. I personnally like to first press the bias band in two, lenghtwise, sew the right side of the binding on the wrong side of the dress. Press the band up, fold and press the seam allowance of the band and then topstitch on the right side. I'm sure I'm not the only one doing it like this, I just couldn't find one of the gazillion of tutorials that must have been written on the topic (wait, I just found one on Burdastyle). 4. Close the second shoulder (french seam again)5. Bind the armholes (same as above)6. Close the side seams (yes, french seams)7. Hem and make the tie, BAM new dress!!As you can see this is a super easy dress, not particularly trendy, in a fabric that should age well. Therefore, I think it's totally worth making it as nice inside so it lasts for a while (ie. french seams).I made size extra-small and my only alteration was taking an additional 1/4" on each side seam (total reduction 1") but I think that this is my personal preference for slightly more fitter garments. For the Petite ladies out there, some great fit details that do not require alteration in addition to the already mentionned great fitting armholes :I think I could also wear it with the tie, tied in the back, but I'm not too sure about it : What do you think??Also as promised in the beginning of the post, below is a picture of our new house!! We signed the lease yesterday and I'm very excited about it! In case you were getting tired of the backdrop of my balcony, well it will be one of the last times you see it. However, I will have a garden now (that needs A LOT of work) so pictures will still be outside. Another good news is that I will also still have a dedicated sewing room.The house comes furnished, and the walls just got repainted but there will be some sewing required for fancy pillows, curtains, and other little things to make it homey. I hope it won't be to boring for you guys. I already have some home decor plans for the fabrics I brought back from Panama that I will talk about later!Any good online resources for sewing for your home that I should know about ?