Vogue 1537 Dress in Silk/Linen

Hi there!  You may (or may not - it has been a few months) remember my excitement at Vogue 1537, a spring Kay Unger Designer pattern for Vogue.  Well, I finished it about two months ago, but with all the move excitement, I never got around to photographing and sharing it.  The coat is 95% finished as well.  It just needs a bit of hand sewing at the buttonholes (and buttons!), but once I missed the deadline on a perfect event for it, I lost steam.  It is too warm to wear now in Florida, but hopefully I will find the perfect excuse to wear it once we get to Pennsylvania.

So back to the main event - Vogue 1537.  I photographed this on a beautiful day, but I think the pale colored dress plus the white in the background was just too much for my camera and the photos are a bit washed out.  The detail photos at the end are an accurate representation of the fabric.  It is a silk/linen blend that I purchased at Penny Fabrics in Sarasota (sorry, still no website).  The lining is rayon from JoAnn fabrics.

The only shaping on the front is two french darts.  This style dart starts at the side seam around the waist and comes to a point at the bust.  This is a very flattering dart on my body shape.  It is easy to fit.  Here is another example of a dress with french darts.

The back has standard vertical fish-eye darts and a side invisible zipper.  I tried so hard to get that bottom band to be in the perfect position to cover my bra strap, but it always pops out, which totally ruins the look.  So far, I have only worn this dress with a little cardi over top, so you couldn't see the main detail anyway, but maybe I could look for a bra with a very thin band.  I can also envision some type of thread loop carriers like are used for bra straps, but that would be quite a pain to attach to my bra band and might cause strange bunching of my dress.

Here are the detail photos that show the fabric better.  After I wore this dress two times, I took it to the dry cleaner, and I kind of want to cry.  I was so meticulous with sewing and pressing this dress, and it came back distorted on the left side of the opening...

...and look what they did to the back left shoulder!  That isn't a sewing mistake.  The corresponding underside on the right is just as bad, but this is visible.  I don't know what to do in the future.  Just hand wash and press myself?  I like the crispness from the dry cleaner, but not at the expense of the shape of my dress!  Any ideas?