TL; DR – I feel like I’m leveling up!

So this expensive and not size-inclusive top keeps algorithmically taunting me.

I had a lovely burgundy ponte, the Cowl Neck dress from burda patterns (which, questionable legality on me downloading it, but mostly the patterns shared on the site are/were free at one point), and the Autumn shirt dress pattern.

And, looking at this now, I finally understand how I got the pleat wrong in the back on the Autumn I sewed. And the first time I sewed this dress. See, blogging can help with sewing! After writing the first draft of this, I unpicked the back and re-did the pleat and I am MUCH happier, but also feeling slightly silly for not understanding how a pleat like this would work…

Anyway, I created a yoke, and then hacked the autumn back with the cowl neck back, and it worked! The cowl neck pattern is easy enough (font on fold, back on fold, cowl facing, sleeves), so that the instructions are in a different language, well, I wasn’t worried about that. The Style Arc directions are minimalist which explains why I’ve gotten the pleat wrong now twice.

While the back is a little puckered now because I redid it (and had to feed six layers through the machine so pulled a bit) but I like the new pleat a lot more and now understand how it’s supposed to work lol*sob.