I made this dress back in 2007:
Here’s a closeup view of the bodice:
A few of the commenters on the original posting were all “Couldn’t you have matched the print?” and now I think they were right.
The bodice is Butterick 6820, but I can’t remember what the skirt was (other than not Butterick 6820). It’s a good skirt, though, so I should figure it out … I think it’s the same skirt as from the Eiffel Tower dress.
Here’s the sleeve detail:
And pocket detail:
Here’s the side zip — a placket and ordinary (not invisible) zipper!
If you look not-all-that-closely you will see that the birds are UPSIDE DOWN on the back bodice:
Even though I had a traumatic pen accident with this dress, I can’t seem to take it out of my closet:
(There’s a [very old] picture of me wearing this dress here.)
A Dress A Day 
The traumatic pen accident could have been a whole lot worse – at least it blends in with the print! But if it bothers you, then only wear this dress when you will be sitting behind desks looking scholarly all day.
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Save the sleeves and the skirt, make a new bodice. I’d pick the brown in the print rather than white or yellow, but that’s just me. You could throw some thin ribbon trim onto the pocket and sleeve contrast to tie in the new fabric, or a row of little brown buttons, or some big pick stitching with brown embroidery floss … or any of a number of other trim ideas. Bird buttons? Rick rack? Designer’s choice.
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Krud Kutter Graffiti remover. My husband left a pen in his pocket that got washed with a brand new shirt of mine. Krud Kutter worked amazingly. It’s not perfect so it may not get rid of everything, but it saved my shirt. My daughter had a shirt with acrylic paint on it and the Krud Kutter saved that one too.
I love it despite it’s horrible misuse of the letter K.
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I will check it out! I can always change the k’s to c’s with a Sharpie. 🙂
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do you have any birdy fabric left? if so, you might be able to fussy-cut a similar looking, tiny piece & seamlessly fusiweb it over the offending spot.
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That’s a great idea! Thanks!
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I like when sewing bloggers post pictures of garments with un-matched prints. It takes some of the pressure off me. 😉
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apropos of nothing, but I just spotted this fabric – it’s an Erin print if I ever did see one.
https://www.fabric.com/buy/0308863/michael-miller-waterfront-park-bridgetown-charcoal
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Please could you tell me what this type of sleeve is called? They suit my body shape best, I think!
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If the print is not symmetrical, you can’t mirror-image 2 adjoining pieces. This was a very difficult fabric to work with from that point of view. Fabric that is directional both vertically and horizontally may not work well in a dress or top, unless a continuous one-way design direction is planned, and that can oftenlead to a peculiar look.
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Tt’s cheerful, I liked it the first time you showed us it, I still like it. I’d spend hours trying to match a print like that, I’d care deeply about the upside down. But only in my own stuff, on you – it looks good, wear it.
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