Thoughts on the striped robe à l'Anglaise

I didn't want it to come to this... But it did... I realize that the striped robe à l'Anglaise has got way too many issues for me to ignore them any longer. So among a lot of other things, I've been thinking about revamping it for a while. The issues aren't so obvious you could tell them from photos right away - but I surely can spot them when I look at the photos. Most of them are caused by lack of patience to fit and finish the dress properly and carefully. But revamping yet another dress doesn't make me feel very excited. It makes me feel the opposite way. I don't feel like taking it completely apart just to sew it back together the same way it used to be.

However, some time ago I stumbled upon a similar striped robe à l'Anglaise on Ebay - someone probably linked it on Facebook but I can't remember who it was - and it gave me some good ideas about how I could change the construction techniques for the better as well. I really like that the seam allowances are turned on the inside of the dress. It has got at least two benefits: The bones can be put into the channels created by the seam allowances and, since my fabric is quite sheer, the seam allowances also won't be seen through the fabric on the outside of the dress like they do at the moment.

I pretty much know how to fix the problems with the fit so it wouldn't be too much trouble. But... Meh. The dress has been worn out to an event twice by now and I'm starting to get tired of wearing it already. I hate to feel that way but it's how it is. And it really should be mentioned that there are also a couple of stains on the outside of the bodice and they won't wash off so it can't be left as it is. So what should I do? Give the dress another chance? 

...Or should I make something completely else from it...? There's probably a couple of meters of the striped fabric left in the stash so I could definitely do that as well. And since I have very high expectations for the pale blue robe à la Polonaise, one option is that I could make a sort of "practice" version of the polonaise from the striped fabric so I wouldn't have to worry about something going really wrong with the pale blue one because I will be able to tell the things that need to be changed from the first version. And don't you just love the striped polonaise from Kyoto Costume Institute...? And wouldn't a striped pet en l'air jacket be so cute as well?

At the moment I'm still working on the stays and the next part of the tutorial will be up probably later this week. I just can't stop thinking about the striped robe à l'Anglaise while I'm working so I wanted to write this down and ask what you think about it so maybe it will be easier to decide what to do with it.

Also, thanks to Isis, I received this new book in the mail yesterday! It has got several patterns, too. Some of them are available on the net - here - but there are also many that aren't. I wasn't expecting the book to have quite so many patterns so I'm positively surprised. Yay!