The dress is done but I haven't got any detailed photos of it yet, I'm afraid. I do have info on the techniques I tried in sewing the wide gauge mesh though!
Overlaying the wgm onto the lycra wasn't difficult, just a bit slow as I tried to get it nicely matched to the grain then each arm of the diamond shape pinned around the edge of the lycra pattern piece. Lot of pins and I hand basted as it was my first time. In the end sewing around the piece with a narrow 3-step zigzag worked well on my old Bernina with the walking foot on. After that I sewed it up as one piece and the matching of the side seam wasn't too bad, not perfect but flo orange wgm over flo orange lycra helped to disguise near misses.
Similarly, sewing the unlined sleeve to the armscye went well too - just lots of pins & hand basting again.
I was most concerned about the strength of just overlocking the sleeve seams so made a few samples.
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Top left: As DSI said they just overlock over mesh and holes regardless, I tried that first and it wasn't too bad at all although much improved by folding over the seam and steam pressing. It went down rather well but the straight line is certainly visible.
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Top right: Next I tried overlocking with a strip of lycra, trimming it back to the needles then steaming flat again. Similar finish to the first, visible line but a much stronger seam with the stabilising lycra.
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Bottom: Finally I did the same but with a thinnish nude lycra lining (sewn with nude coloured thread) and pressed. That was strong like the previous one but the seam wasn't at all obvious against the skin and disappeared entirely from a short distance away. No surprise that's the one I went with in the end.
Wide gauge mesh test samples