Dress #4 - vintage tweed librarian dress?

Ok, so as always I currently have a new project on the go. This time I'm using a Butterick Retro '58 pattern, B5707:



...and here's the dress view. I'll be using view B, but with the three quarter length sleeves from view A. I liked the cowl neck and I want this to be a normal pencil skirt length dress, not the longer length suggested by the pattern. I also had the perfect fabric - and the perfect amount of it - in my stash, it was a bit of a squeeze fitting all the pieces on but it worked out very nicely, I love using fabric to the max without there being any waste! The fabric is a kind of tweed pattern, a polyster-wool blend British made fabric that my lovely grandmother sent me amongst other bits and pieces. It's a lovely fabric and I've wanted to make a smart dress for work out of it for some time.

I cut out all the pieces and this took some time, as I was really worried about lining up the checks correctly on the seams, as I've never worked with check or a large pattern before, so it was a bit of guesswork. To be honest it hasn't worked out to be a perfect match, but I think it'll look ok. So far, I've already put together the top and from trying it on I'm not particularly happy with the way the cowl neck sits, it just isn't right, I really should have done a muslin - but too late now! I'm just hoping the weight of the skirt will adjust the way it sits. Here is the dress so far, i.e. dress top:


However, after getting this far I realised (a little too late, I think) that I really should have made a lining up at the same time and sewn it in at the neck instead of using the facing, as the fabric is fraying like crazy. Should have seen that coming! So I need to get the pattern out again and cut the dress again, I've been putting it off a bit but I wanted to go and buy some nice light 100% cotton for the lining in this dress, as the usual shiny stuff (NO idea what it's called) made dress #3 a bit 'swishy' like a party dress and I don't want that, plus it's pretty important I don't get too hot and sweaty in this one as it's definitely going to be dry clean only!!

Anyway more progress on this dress really soon, I'm back in the swing and thoroughly enjoying getting on with the project so watch this space...