Simplicity in a Dress

Last summer I fell in love with a fabric I found while on a trip to Fabricland, and I sat down at the store's pattern book tables with the bolt across my lap and searched for a suitable pattern. I am normally a Vogue Pattern devotee and use them 90% of the time, but sometimes for more casual outfits one of the other brands is a better choice. I liked this pattern, Simplicity 2174, which looked like it would be cool and comfortable for summer days while still being suitable for nearly anywhere I am likely to go: a publishing office, the mall, lunch with a friend. Also: pockets! Those are a rare thing in a woman's dress. I see quite a few other women have made the dress and posted pictures of themselves wearing it to the internet.

The resulting dress. I didn't modify this pattern at all. If I remember correctly, this fabric is a cotton with 2% spandex, and it has a lovely crisp texture as well as an attractive print in brown, turquoise and green. I am taller than this dressmaker form (my shoulders sit a good four or five inches higher) so the dress is the same length on me as it is on the model (rather than ankle-length as it would be on the form, if the form had ankles).