I had an hour of unexpected free time last night so I headed down to the sewing room to make the most of it. The current work-in-progress (the pink-and-green camo print chiffon with the sweetheart neckline that will NOT, repeat NOT consent to having a zipper inserted may move from WIP to UFO status soon) is a version of this dress. (Click on the image to see the whole, very tattered, pattern envelope. Warning: very large image.)

I'm making it up in featherweight black eyelet, and, instead of the narrower skirt shown here, I substituted a circle skirt, in the hopes that a fuller skirt will hang better in such a lightweight fabric (although I may still end up weighting the hem). A circle skirt is also easier to attach–I find it difficult to get those center front skirt seams to line up at the optical center of the bodice. I finished the neckline with black piping, to fight the fold-over tendency that the neck points on this particular design have. 90% of the bodice, including finishing the neck, is done, which means there's only another hour or two of work before the dress is ready-to-wear.

I'll add the same piping to the waist, for extra stability in such a light fabric, in addition to reinforcing it on the inside with twill tape. I also (as always) added a side-seam pocket.

Cutting eyelet is interesting — it has a very bubble-wrap feel. The scissors will be gliding along through the fabric and then hit a spot of embroidered resistance: pop! pop! It's been so long since I've made anything eyelet that I'd forgotten. At first it feels unnervingly and sickeningly like cutting through a pin, only with less potential for eye injury, but after you've reassured yourself that you're not launching tiny bits of sharp metal through the air and ruining your scissors, it's strangely pleasant. Pop!