Badgley Mischka Vogue 1275 Planning

This is Vogue 1273, a Badgley Mischka desigern pattern (now oop, but still available on the Vogue website) and the project I'm currently working on.  I had previously started to sew up a super cute 70's skort/culotte thingie, however things got tricky and I got frustrated.  Instead of doing the logical thing and start on something fast, easy and rewarding, I went the complicated and involved route of course.

So, so floofy.  :(

I loved this pattern the first time I saw it.  It has some very striking details, yet isn't over the top and also has the added benefit of adding some... omph... to the bust area.  And the best thing- IT HAS POCKETS!!!!!  When is the last time you saw a cocktail type dress with pockets?  And not just the standard one hidden in the side seam, but angled and designed ones.  Anyway, I bought it not having an exact plan on how to make it up as I (sadly) have very little reason to wear shiny, fancy dresses, but I have since decided to use a trick I've used before- make it out of denim!  Cross my heart, there isn't a garment out there that, if even somewhat suitable for a heavy fabric, cannot be made into everyday wear by doing this.

The plan is to fake flat felled (french) seam everything, do lots of top stitching, ditch the foundation layer and lining, and add some straps to break up the barren expanse of my shoulders and upper chest.  Hopefully all of these changes will also have the added benefit of casual-ifying the dress even more.  I toyed with swapping out the funky pleated skirt for a more standard, rectangular, pleated one but it just started to look floofy which is a look I neither like, nor can pull off.  I drew the skirt as being quite a bit longer than the envelope shows, but I think I'm going to have to wait and see how much volume the awesome double pleats have, and which length will look better.

As a last note, while shopping for the fabric, I accidentally managed to pick a denim with lots of crosswise stretch though I think this will end up working in my favour.  I'm crossing my fingers that if things stay stretchy enough  I a) won't have to deal with inserting a zipper into the gazillion of layers around the pleated overlay and b) will have extra room for food induced expansion.