I don't know how the weather has been in your part of the country/world, but here in Central Virginia it seems like we have had more cloudy/rainy days than sunny and I could count on one hand the number of days the temperature has gotten above 75, which is completely atypical for this area. It's basically felt like March for 3 months now and I CAN.NOT.WAIT. to be complaining about how hot and humid it is. Seriously! Consequently, this dress that I finished at the beginning of April hasn't been worn except to snap these photos :( It looks so sad hanging in my closet being all but ignored as I try to find sweaters and jackets that I'm not sick of wearing since October. My hope is that by blogging about it, some warm, sunny weather will be encouraged to head this way and stay for a while. Summer will come. It has to, right? I really hope so.
As you can see, I have punched my ticket for the off-the-should-trend bandwagon and I am not even slightly sorry! I used McCall's 6558 View B a modified it a little to get the look I was going for in my head.
I made a quick muslin of the size 10 and decided not to make any alterations for fit, so even with the muslin step this was a really quick sew. I only made a couple of design changes, specifically shortening the length to mid-thigh (using my Southport dress as a guide) and also shortening the shoulder ruffle by about 1 inch. If/when I make another version, I might give the skirt more of an a-line shape to add a little fullness.
I picked up this fabric on my very last trip to Hancock Fabrics (R.I.P). I am super bummed to see them go as the only places in Richmond to buy apparel fabrics are Joann or Hancock and I have never been impressed with Joann's selection/pricing/quality of apparel fabrics. I guess that means a lot more online fabric shopping for me! I picked up a few different wovens on this trip, this one being a cotton/linen blend that was super soft even before washing it. It sort of has a mid-weight hand to it but because of the content I'm sure it will be nice and light and comfortable to wear if the weather ever decides to warm up.
Construction on this dress was really straight forward. The hardest part for me was feeding the elastic through the casings as it was a veryyy tight squeeze. The armholes are finished with bias binding leftover from my Easter dress (yet to be blogged). I serged the side seams, and the hems on the ruffle and skirt are double folded and topstitched. My favorite sewing hack as of late is using doubled sided tape (like this) for hems. I used the 1/4" wide version for the hem on the ruffle. Just place it along the raw edge of the fabric, pull off the paper, fold up the fabric the width of the tape, fold up again, and stitch in place. The result is neat and even and there is no measuring involved! Love it.
While I was cutting and sewing this dress, the thought of adding pockets came to mind more than once but was rejected each time out of sheer laziness. Of course, the first thing I said to myself when I put it on to go take these pictures was "Man, I wish I had some pockets." I guess I could do some unpicking and throw in some inseam pockets, or maybe patch pockets on the front would be easier? I don't know, the lazy voice in my head is telling me it's not that big of a deal. Perhaps I will wait until I can really get some wear out of the dress before I make a final decision.
Oh! I almost forgot to tell you about my favorite part, the tag! This is one of those garments where it is impossible to tell the front from the back, so I knew I needed to add something to help me differentiate between the two. I went a little computer nerd and designed this guy in Inkscape then converted it to a digital embroidery file. I used one of the embroidery machines at work to embroider him onto a piece of scrap fabric which I made into a tag and sewed into the dress. And then all of the heart-eye cat face emojis. I love him, I really do! I realize that when I'm wearing the dress, no one will know it is there (except for you guys if you see me wearing it, haha) but there is just something about it that makes me happy. Maybe thats weird, but I don't care.
Anywaysss, I think that's all I have to say about this pretty straight-forward make. I'm going to go savor these last little bits of sunshine before it rains all weekend (again).
| Pattern: | M6558, View B by McCall Pattern Company |  |
|---|---|---|
| Fabric: | Striped Cotton/Linen Blend from Hancock Fabrics | |
| Body Measurements: | Bust 36.5/Waist 27/Hip 37.5 (in inches) | |
| Size: | 10 | |
| Adjustments/Alterations: | shortened skirt to mid-thigh length, shortened shoulder ruffle 1 inch |