S3503: Polka Dot Halter Dress

I don't watch Glee, but I keep up with Emma Pillsbury's fashion via the wonderful blog, What Would Emma Pillsbury Wear?  One of my favorite outfits ever that Emma wore is pictured below:

Here is a better shot of the outfit with the red shoes.

Here is the full post on this outfit.
I  knew I was going to have to recreate this somehow.  First I needed a black polka dot dress.  Even though Emma's dress is not a halter, I wanted one so I bought some lightweight rayon blend black/white polka dot knit from fashionfabricsclub.com (I think).  It may have come from fabric.com, but I can't remember.  I chose to use Simplicity 3503, View D, the shorter length halter dress.

  I read a few reviews on patternreview.com and found out that to make the back elastic fit well I needed to cut it for the size smaller than I was making.  I did that, but I could probably have cut it a  little shorter for a tighter fit.  It stays up okay, though.  The pattern calls for a tricot lining.  I had never worked with tricot before making this dress so this was a first for me.  I bought some 40 Denier Tricot White  from fabric.com. It was pretty easy to work with as it behaves like most other knits.  However, it does tends to roll up on the edges. 
  Overall the dress was easy to make, except for one part of the instructions that made me a little confused.   The instructions have you run the elastic through the back piece on which you have made a casing and then sew it to the bodice front to which you have already attached the lining.  I had to look at the pictures to figure out what to do, but I just went with it and it worked out.

front

back

   Here is how I wore the outfit inspired by Emma Pillsbury.  I wore a necklace with lime green and pinkish/purple in it, so I chose eggplant patent Mary Jane heels instead of red ones like Emma wore.

Cardigan:  Old Navy

Yellow belt:  Walmart

Necklace:  Charlotte Russe (I think)

Shoes:  Parisian (before they became Belk)

Until next time, Happy Sewing!!