The overdress is more forgiving because it is meant to be loose. It went much more smoothly than the under tunic. Of course, I had sizing problems with the under tunic and had to rip out seams several times. The overdress started coming together quickly.
I thought I would have problems with the boning but after watching the video it was fairly easy. My only issue was with the ribbon. The first time Bug tried this on three of the ribbon fastenings tore loose. The ribbons aren't just decoration-they are the only way to fasten the dress, so I should have anticipated that they would need to be sturdy. The instructions say just to baste them in place and sew the trim on top, and that was inadequate. I wasn't about to rip the bodice apart and re-do it. I sewed them back on top of the vertical ribbon trim but I stitched and back stitched over all of them on both sides, instead of just basting once and sewing once. Then I sewed another piece of ribbon trim right on top of the first one. I bet those little suckers will stay put now.
I did not like the way the back side of the shoulder straps are hand sewn onto the inside lining. I know it's just a costume and no one sees the inside, but it's ugly. It seems that the back side of the straps should have been sandwiched in like the front side is.
The sleeves have a tendency to fall off the shoulder so I sewed a hook onto the inside of the brown sleeve on each side and hid an eye under the ruffles of the green dress at the top of the shoulder to tack it in place.
The outer dress bears some resemblance to this outfit worn by the character Belle in the TV show Once Upon a Time.
