Mouret dress: Fitting number 1

So yesterday I had a fitting session of the Mouret inspired dress I'm making for my friend Carol. Drafting the first toile was a better process than I first imagined and this was all because of the great help I received from the great members of the sewing forum website who gave me so much advice and answered all my questions. A big thank you to you all!

Toile 1
I was really happy with the look of the first fit but there are still quite a few changes to be made.
Firstly I added too much width to the hips plus the ease which meant that the front, back and hip area were all too baggy and didn't fit as snug as I would have liked. This can be sorted out relatively easily by taking in that excess fabric.

I was extremely happy with how the neckline came out for the first fit. I was really worried that it would gape badly as these sorts of necklines are prone to doing so. We've decided to take it down a tad- about 2cm which will also mean taking in the bust darts slightly to remove the subsequent excess fabric and also take in the side area (at the shoulder) of the neckline too as there is a slight gap around that area.

Carol chose cap sleeves but I wasn't sure what length would fit her best so I made each sleeve a different length so we could see the effect. We both chose the shorter side (on the right) as it sat better.

The hem area is plain at the moment but we thought that perhaps we could include a thick hemline like galaxy dress in the image below and see whether it would look good and suit Carol height too. I'm aware that these horizontal lines can have a widening effect to the figure so I want to be careful! Does anyone else have a dress with a similar thick hemline? Does it only suit certain figures? I need to do some research and make up the second toile....