McCall's 6563 - Taming of the Shrew-d Rayon Knit

This one is for my sweet mom.  We went fabric shopping the other day (which we haven't done in years and it was so much fun!) and she picked out this fabric.  I've made McCall's 6563 for her before so I knew the fit would be fine.  She chose a very lightweight rayon knit which, as many of you know, takes a bit of wrangling.  The instructions are well written but I did do a couple of things that helped me tame the fabric:

There is a pivot point on the shoulder seam on the front.  I put a small piece of fusible knit to reinforce the pivot  and then did the stay stitching the pattern calls for.  It helps hold the weight of the drapey neckline and make a cleaner edge.

My serger wanted to EAT UP a single layer of this knit, so when it came time to finish the edge of the cowl neck on my serger, I folded over 1/4" and ran it through.  The two layers of fabric made the finish look smoother without adding bulk.....and kept me sane.

I added ruching to the side of the top to add shape.  I cut a 4" piece of 1/8" elastic and stitch it down on top of the side seam starting at the hem and stretching up 7" (from hem to pin in the upper left corner).  

I used my applique foot and a very narrow zig zag to attach the elastic.  The arrow on my foot made it easy to line up.  In this photo, the elastic is stretched as I'm sewing.

Here's a close up of the outside.

And here's my pattern review: