Pattern review: Sunki dress by Figgy's

I bought the paper version of Figgy's Sunki dress and leggings on sale when Fabric Stash remodeled their website and became Urban Sew. I've purchased fabric from them a few times and I'm always happy with the price and quality. A portion of their sales goes to foster kids! (I'm not an affiliate, promise, just like their store and story.)

Then it sat. I took it out from time to time, wondering what fabric to use. One night I read the directions for a little bedtime reading.

Finally, inspiration struck and I realized the modern lines would perfectly balance out the almost too cutesy stretch denim I bought at Joann's over a year ago. Then I looked through my stash to find the right solid to colorblock the shoulders with (because there would be upside-down hearts due to the neat lapped shoulder construction and that wouldn't do) and rediscovered this awesome neon pink. And then the Monday before Valentine's Day, I realized I was making a dress with hearts on it and should hurry up and get it done.

But, I got sick and lost all ability to be productive. Wah wah wah (that's me making an annoying crying sound). The dress got finished on the Sunday after Valentine's Day, but it ended up working out because it's too big! I'm putting it away in her box of too-big clothes for next Fall.

Stella definitely had to be bribed to put it on for pictures. Her comments about it were: "It doesn't twirl." "Why did you put hearts on it?" (Because I thought she's love them), and "Can I wear the new twirly skirt you made for me now?"

Pattern: Sunki Dress by Figgy's patterns

Sizing: Chest and hip measurements fell in the 2/3 (barely), but height fell in the 4/5 range. Usually I would cut the width of the pattern pieces to the 2/3 lines and length to the 4/5 lines or add length in the middle to accommodate my daughter's long torso, but I couldn't wrap my sinus-congested brain around how to do that with these pattern pieces. So somehow I thought just sizing up to a straight 4/5 would work. Silly me.

Long story short, I made a 4/5 and added 7/8" in length by adding a hem facing.

Material used: Stretch denim from Joann's and quilting cotton from my stash.

Notions needed: A zipper and thread. I also used double-sided interfacing for the applique hearts.

Appropriately rated: No rating. The instructions were pretty good for a Figgy's pattern, so I think an adventurous beginner could handle it.

Time spent: 5-6 hours after I finally started? Pretty fast.

Modifications: I wanted an exposed zipper, so I followed this tutorial. It was my first! I'll try a different tutorial next time (maybe this one, or this one) as I wasn't very happy with the results.

As previously mentioned, I didn't want to have upside down hearts so I colorblocked the shoulders, and I added a hem facing to add length.

Also, I added a couple appliqued hearts to the hem because the dress told me too.

Comments: I'm not sure how I feel about the dress. It has some really interesting features (pleated sleeves, side panels with pockets and lapped shoulders) and looked lovely on the hanger. I think I will like it better when it actually fits her! Also, this will be a cool pattern for when the girls are older and out of the twirly dress phase.