Complete: A Not So New Jacinta Dress

You know how sometimes the longer you leave something you mean to do, the harder it is to actually get down and do it? Yeah...it's been a while between posts. Life got busy, as it does from time to time for all of us. I have however been putting non-blogging time to work as sewing time, and so I think for the first time I have a bit of a backlog of projects to catch up on.

First up is a dress I finished last April, that I've never quite managed to get around to posting. This is because I'd thought of it as a bit of a "meh" make. But, in the twin interests of honesty and posterity, here 'tis:

It's Style Arc's Jacinta Knit Dress, in a very ordinary stable black cotton jersey with self-fabric bands at neck and armholes. And that photo isn't doing anything to dispel the "meh" rating... Clearer design lines shown below:

It went together very easily although from memory some of the yoke (raglan-y bits) pieces were oddly labelled. It was almost as if the printing cut out partway through the words - both versions, sleeved and sleeveless, were labelled "version sl" with the final "L" partly missing. Going by the line drawings I assumed the narrower "straps" were for the sleeveless view. Since this was technically a muslin (with the secret hope of being wearable anyway) I didn't make any changes to the pattern.

It's shaped but not particularly fitted, which is best evidenced by the side view. (Figure? What figure?) When I first tried it on I was pretty underwhelmed. I really didn't think this one would get much wear at all.

But by the end of the year I was pleasantly surprised. Keeping a record /running tally of all the times I wore my own makes was an enlightening exercise; some things I loved when I made them had barely been worn at all, while some things - like this one - had been in much higher rotation than expected. This dress actually worked really well throughout winter for layering; boots, tights, long-sleeved tops, jumpers. In fact, this and my Beatnik jumper was one of my favourite outfits. I found one handy thing about wearing a dress under things is that there's no extra waistband bulk. Plus, the very unspectacularness (to coin a word...) of this made it easy to coordinate with lots of other things. Who'd have thought!

So, a tick for cooler weather wear. But how about the warmer weather it would seem to have been designed for? Here's a confession, and just another reason why I'll never be a stylist or a true fashionista: I'm not all that keen on wearing black in summer. I know it's very chic, and timeless and all that, but with the occasional exception, generally it feels a bit, I don't know, heavy to wear on a hot day.

But I actually don't mind this belted and with sandals...

 I usually try and post garments reasonably soon after making them (or at least take photos before they've been through the wash umpteen times), but I think the gap between completion and post has worked in this dress's favour. At the time this would have gotten a thumbs down in any review I gave, but it really has proved its worth since.

So much so that now I'm thinking a grey marle version with elbow length sleeves would be rather nice...

How about you? Have you ever had a make turn around and surprise you like this?