Vogue 1153 - Anna Sui Dress

I used this Anna Sui pattern, Vogue 1153, from her Resort 2009 collection:

Polka dots, ruffles, and a bow tie - sometimes you have to just go for it, ya know?

This dress is fairly simple to sew and fit, save for the copious amounts of gathering and hemming.

I made my usual size 8.  No fit alterations - thank you jeebus! 

My notes:

• This dress is short.  Notice how you can see good amounts of the model's thighs but no knees?  It's a true mini dress.  I added 4.5" to the length, and it's still a couple ruler widths away from my knees.  And at 5'7," I'm about average height.
• Get comfortable with gathering.  There's a lot of it in this pattern.  There are even gathers behind the skirt ruffle that you can't see. 
• Rolled hemming is practically a necessity.  Yards and yards (and yards!) of hems are too tedious to sew without a serger.   

Edited to add:  I used cobalt blue wooly nylon thread in the upper and lower loopers of my machine (that's the two right-most threads) to make the edges stand out and for a nice smooth finish.  I used regular cotton thread in the needle.  Wooly nylon is a springy, thick thread that seals and wraps fabric edges better than regular thread.  I purchased mine from my local JoAnn fabrics.

The fabric is an airy silk/cotton voile from Manhattan Fabrics (no longer available, unfortunately).

Here's what Chaiken, the fabric designer, originally used the fabric for:

Photo:  bluefly.com

I'm pretty happy with my dress.  It's slighly saccharine but perfect for summer.  I'll have my cupcake and look like one too.