Kwik-Sew 3473, all tacked together and ready to hibernate

It feels like I've been dragging my feet on this project. Partly it's that what I've been doing on it just takes a long time (single layer cutting, lots of basting) but I also dithered on what sorts of finishes to use. The shell fabric probably has a lot more shear than the lining (we'll see in the next several days) so I didn't think I wanted to flatline the bias-cut skirt. I could have done so with the bodice, but what would have complicated things is the CB zipper that the pattern would have you use.

But. It turns out the zipper might not be needed. The bodice isn't that fitted; the waistline seam angles up in front, so it's on the bias there; and the entire skirt, again, is bias and flared. So it seems there's enough give in the waist to possibly make a pullover work. At least, it seems to so far, without the sleeves; if those cause a problem I think it would work to have the zipper in the bodice only.

I should mention that I'm somewhat used to struggling into vintage dresses with side zippers, so this may not work for everyone, but I had no trouble getting it onto my non-collapsible dress form. Apologies for the dizzying combination of print, mirror, and background stuff. The skirt may look crooked, but really, it isn't. I'm a little disappointed in some of the motif repeats, but there isn't a whole lot I could have done without running out of fabric.

And... this is about as far as it's going to go for the next week, at the very least. I want to give the skirt ample time to drop. The whole thing is hand-basted together, with machine staystitching at the appropriate edges. Both lining and shell fabrics are in there; the bodice layers are tacked together and the waist seam sewn through all layers, but the skirt layers are independent of each other. The skirt seams are basted with long single threads knotted only at the top. I hope this will let both fabrics drop freely in the skirt, without weighing down the bodice excessively.

There are a couple of reviews of 3473 on Patternreview already; I think at least one of them mentioned that the skirt came out far longer than it looked on the pattern envelope. I agree; this should have been a bit more than knee length judging from stated measurements alone, but that's bias for you. I think the results could be very different with, say, handkerchief linen.