Beautiful fabric, simple pattern. The photos don’t do justice to this fabric. It’s just an inexpensive polyester, probably from Joann’s, but the color is lovely. It’s a clear, bright, not-overly-aggressive aqua, with metallic gold threads providing the subtle background pattern. This fabric is like a well-chlorinated, gold-tiled pool at a posh hotel. It also has a gorgeous but unobtrusive metallic border. I used the selvage as the bottom, which leaves the edge with about 1/4″ of gold-colored fringe.
This is Simplicity 3533. The full lining makes the construction so simple–all long seams with just some trimming, clipping, and understitching–no fussy narrow hemming or bias tape finishing. This was probably made in August of 2011. I remember working on this in my mom’s sewing room in the year I lived at home. (That feels like an era, not a simple description: The Year I Lived at Home.) I also remember wearing this to work on my birthday shortly after I’d sewed it, and it feeling very special:
Now, a few years later, I don’t love it quite so much. The fabric is still lovely, but the silhouette is not the most flattering. It’s too boxy to wear with trousers and too short to tuck in easily.
Also, I’m terrified of the back of this garment after seeing the photos. I had *no idea* this is what the garment looked like from behind while wearing it!
TLDR: not moved by this piece, at all. It does not represent a leap forward in skills or design, and is not a cut I enjoy wearing. It’s a keeper and a happy memory, but not a fave.