DIY - The Purple Lantern-Sleeve Dress!

For over a year, I've been lusting after Roksanda Ilincic Margot Lantern Dress. It's in my Pinterest and I've also kept pictures of it on my hard drive, in all of the beautiful jeweltones and sherbet hues. And since I had a purple wool gabardine in my stash, purple it is!
Inspiration:

Roksanda Ilincic Margot Lantern Dress

This dress is completely self-drafted. Trust me when I say, if there had been anything similar I would've saved myself a lot of work!

First, I started with the pattern pieces from this dress. The sleeves were already perfect and were the least of my concerns. I first had to figure the right amount of ease to create the off-centered neckline pleats. And I used the same method to create the ones at the waist. Which was pretty much much measuring, slicing and spreading.

And based on my inspiration garment, for the back -- they used pleats on the bodice and skirt instead of darts. I initially didn't know how I'd feel about this detail, but I went for it. Personally, I prefer the smoother look of darts, but you never know until you try it. And the inspiration garment has an exposed zipper that runs from neckline to hemline. I wasn't sure how this dress was going to turn out and even if I was going to like it. So I decided to just omit that detail from the original -- as much as I love an exposed zipper!

I fully lined the dress with a matching purple Ambiance bemberg lining. And I added a 1 1/4" hem at the knee. The sleeve is lined up until the lantern part. I thought it would drape better without being lined. And I finished the sleeves with 5/8" hem.
Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the outcome. Since I'm self-educating myself on drafting, I thought this was a great project with cool details to teach myself how to do.