butterick 2704 - skirt to a dress

For a few reasons, I seem to have spent much of December trying to make winter dresses for myself.  I have a pair of brown boots I love but little to wear with them, so I figured I could run up some tunic dresses and have a great selection to wear within weeks, how wrong I was.  Between one thing and another, none of the dresses seemed right.  I wanted a dress or tunic that was semi-fitted, comfortable, and that would work with knee high chunky leather boots, and my body shape.....and that would be fab, so it became a month of trial and error.    It now looks like January will be a month of tweaking the nearly done flawed other dresses before I can get onto another coat remake. 

The first skirt was a polyester cupro, great weight, and the colour was a bit dowdy, but I thought I could figure something later.  I used the butterick beach dress and made it shorter.  The skirt was taken apart, and the side seams went out for hips, and in again - in a lot more than the waist width - probably to keep the line of skirt tidy, but I didn't anticipate the loss of fabric here.(the skirt is  a uk size 18, I am a 12/14).  The dress pattern neckline is at the skirt hemline in the photo.    I was able to make the hips marginally bigger, and the overall length of centre front neck is 84cm, so a bit above knee.  I had made the dress before from cotton, and it was incredibly quick to run up.

In the photo, and on mannequin there is a drag of fabric above darts but this isn't evident on when wearing it(?) - I am hoping its the fabric as it didn't happen with the cotton version. I am not 100% happy with the balance of the tunic.  Where the dart ends' the waist shaping begins and it seems to cut the line the dress in half and makes it look a bit dumpy (as it is made shorter than the pattern is ).  I am probably being over critical, I have worn it, and its comfortable, and has shape, so thats 2 out of 3.  I will consider applique trim of another colour for neck and hem if I come across an appropriate shade or fabric, but not until the other dresses are got to a finished state...................