Mood Sewciety's Cypress Dress, notes and tips

As you may know, for my wedding I sewed the Cypress Dress from Mood Sewciety for my spouse. Overall I had a good time of it, and it's certainly a pattern I would recommend--at least for those who are able to either understand not-quite-clear pattern instructions or just figure out a way to do what you want to do with it. It's not the most beginner-friendly pattern, at least from a documentation perspective, but if you've sewn dresses before (or, like me, this is your first dress but you've sewn both tops and skirts), you'll probably be able to do it even though they don't tell you everything you need to do. Here are some notes on how I sewed it, and some tips that might make it easier for others.

What I did differently

• First, I Googled how to take away the tit darts from the pattern. My spouse isn't particularly busty, so I had a feeling the pattern as is would look similar on them to men's underwear on me. I ended up not fully following the instructions, which I later regretted: the instructions told me to take away enough from the waist to make up for folding the pattern outwards, but that looked weird to me and I remembered that the size chart for the dress expected everyone wearing it to be shaped like this >< and my spouse, like most people, is not, so I took away a little bit less. I later regretted it, because this is a dress, not a shirt, so without that extra removal the bodice had more fabric at the waist than the skirt. I ended up being able to just increase the darts, because what I forgot is that even though my spouse isn't built like a female superhero drawn by a straight guy, they're pretty darn skinny. The proportions of the dress, similar to the bodysuit I made for myself, also weren't as extreme as indicated in the size chart, and accommodated for a more rectangular hourglass figure.
• I didn't do French seams like recommended in the pattern. First, because I forgot. Then, I tried one, and instantly decided against it. The instructions for this pattern, like most I've seen, assume you're using a thin woven cotton or something else that's not bulky and creases easily. I was using mildly stretchy and thick gabardine. French seams on bulky material are an absolute nightmare unless you can increase the seam allowance (and have annoyingly bulky seams in the finished product).
• For both the back bodice and the back skirt, I folded the pattern piece over about half an inch (although I now know that it would've been more in line with the measurements of the pattern if I did an inch, because the seam allowance is half an inch on either side iirc) and cut it on the fold. It just seems unnecessary to sew those seams, since they're both just a straight line and no function or aesthetic appeal (at least in my opinion) will be gained for the extra fabric, thread, and time/labor used.

What I wish I did differently

• I wish I had offered to make the skirt longer. I can't guarantee that they would have accepted the offer (although, knowing them, they probably would have), but it was very windy at the beach during the ceremony and they were extremely chilly so I felt bad. :(
• When I had to take in the waist of the bodice to match the skirt, I wish I had increased the darts in the front instead of the back. It all turned out fine and fits them well, but the side seams are further forward on the skirt than the bodice and every time I look at it closely I get very annoyed.
• I wish I had remembered to put in pockets, because that's an easy adjustment to make to patterns with side seams (aka most) and my moral code is that every dress, skirt, or pair of pants that can feasibly have pockets should have pockets. Also some tops and most jackets.
• I wish I had looked at the instructions a little more closely before cutting out the pieces. I did edit the pattern for fewer seams along the back of the dress, but I wish I had also edited the sleeve pattern so I didn't have to sew the cuffs onto the sleeves. It would have been so much easier, and had the exact same effect aesthetically (as well as being more sturdy), to just cut out longer sleeves and roll them up.
• I wish I had gotten less material. I did end up using some of my excess suiting for my pants (and would have used it for my jacket had I had enough time), but the pattern said to get 4 packages of bias tape. I ended up using less than 1 for the entire dress, and even though I used a bit on my Adenia Bodysuit (that was not intended to use bias tape therefore I didn't buy any for it), I used barely more than 1 pack for the entirety of both of our wedding outfits. At least I'll probably be able to find more uses for white bias tape over the years, but I'd prefer to have spent less money right now (especially since I didn't get any sort of discount for buying extra) and be taking up less space until I actually need the rest of that material.

Warnings about and tips for sewing your own Cypress Dress

• Unless I somehow missed it during my many scours of the instructions, they never actually tell you to sew the side seams of the bodice. Obviously this is something you'll need to do at some point. I think, based on the instructions for the sleeves, they expected you to have that done before you sew on the sleeves, but I actually found it way easier to sew the top edge of the sleeves to the bodice, sew the cuffs to the sleeves, and then sew both the side seams of the bodice and the bottom seams of the sleeves.
• Some of the instructions don't work very well for those with unironable fabric, crease resistant fabric, or thick fabric. E.g. the French seams aren't great with thick fabric. The darts are harder to sew with crease resistant fabric, and I had to actually edge stitch the button plackets on the skirt to get that fold to stay. If your fabric can't be ironed, you'll have to sew interfacing to the collar facing. This last bit should be easy enough; just don't trim your interfacing and keep it pinned/clipped to the fabric as you sew the facing to the collar and as you sew the bias tape on it.