The Pilgrim Peony

You may recall I have a polka dotted Peony with striped & piped cuffs that I made when I first started this blog. That was my first ever version of this pattern and, with more experience under my belt now, I realize I should have cut a smaller size, among other things. I had been so excited about how I was going to sew it and what fabrics to use that I'd kind of ignored the less-than-ideal fit of the finished dress.  Well, I mentioned it, but at no point did I stop the project to try to really fix it. Unfortunately, the thing never gets worn now. Anyway -- it's time for a new round of Peonies.

At first, I had been a little over-it when it came to the Peony pattern, thinking that maybe it just wasn't for me. And it had sleeves, which I've only recently become comfortable sewing. Then, I saw this adorable version over at Sewbon. It hit me that, duh, this is a versatile dress that would really look cute and let a beautiful fabric shine. If I used a solid color of a nice bright linen or something, I might really like it!

Since fall is here, I want everything to be orange, red, or gold, haha, so I snapped up some of this pretty, Orange linen blend at Fabric.com, with plans to make it into a NICE, satisfactorily-fitting, Peony. Is this going to be a good color on me? Don't know, but I was definitely drawn to it.

Carrot colored linen blend, from Fabric.com

However, none of the above noted Peonies are what this post is actually meant to share! Instead of cutting right into my new bright fabric, or making an annoying bodice muslin out of plain, unwearable fabric, I opted for a wearable muslin, of sorts. I used a kelly green double-knit polyester heap of fabric that had been lurking in my stash. I can't quite remember how I came across it, but probably some early, misguided online fabric shopping from my earlier days of sewing. I added a while collar and thus created my latest Peony; The Pilgrim Peony.  (I know you're not supposed to use fabric that's this drastically different from your anticipated final fashion fabric when you make a muslin, but whatever!)

Please excuse the iPhone photos, I'll have better ones once the dress is totally done. That's right, I've left off the finishing touches on the sleeves, so this is still technically a WIP. I've also done a few other weird things -- since this fabric is thick polyester and is not prone to fraying, I didn't finish a single raw edge or seam! I was also able to leave out the center back zipper since the double-knit fabric is a bit stretchy. AND, to make my futuristic/Jetsons'/pilgrim/'60s collar, I literally just used the facing pieces that came with the pattern. Is that weird? It makes the corners at the shoulder seam pointed, rather than curved and I kind of like it. The inside of the neckline is finished with matching bias binding. Oh, and I also omitted the gathers at the front of the skirt and just added a pleat on each side. I didn't think this fabric would lend itself well to little gathers.

The only thing I have left to do now is come up with an idea for finishing the sleeves. I could just hem them at this slightly-shorter-than-the-pattern-calls-for length. Or, I could add a little pointy, white cuff to match the collar. Or, maybe just a white band/cuff that's plain, not pointed? I really can't decide. Any recommendations?