Making a Maxi

Pattern Review: McCall's 6744


The Summer sewing continues, this time with the maxi dress version of McCall's 6744. I did attempt to make this version of the pattern before here but I ended up having to cut the skirt down. I have been wanting to have another go and finally got around to it as part of my sewing group's Summer Sew-a-Long. 


This time I managed to cut everything out correctly as I had plenty of fabric. This fabric is an ITY knit from Saeed's Fabrics in Walthamstow. I can't remember how much I paid for it, but I think it was around £4-£6 per metre. It washed and sewed perfectly. In fact I rarely have any problems handling ITY knits. 


I made very minor alterations to this. I remembered that the bodice had a large amount of ease last time so I cut a small and graded out to a medium on the hips. I graded in 1" in length on the bottom of the bust which I count as my lazy FBA. Lastly I added a couple of inches on the bottom so I could wear this with heels. FYI I am almost 5 ft 8" so it is rare that patterns are every floor length for me. I am planning on wearing this dress to a wedding this summer and then I plan to take up the hem an inch so I can wear it afterwards with flats. 


This is a super simple dress, but I love the details such as the elasticized shoulders and front split in the skirt. Incidentally I didn't have enough fabric to pattern match the front but it worked our pretty well! I also appreciate that neckline is not too low and how the Grecian style makes this garment feel very elegant and feminine. Here is a close up of the shoulders. 


I have a couple of other summer dresses and a skirt cut out on the sewing table. Just by looking at the fabrics I can tell that I see them as transitional items that I can wear with tights later this year. However, the sun has finally come out in London this week so I am going to be wearing my summer makes as much as possible in the meantime! 


You can view my Pattern Review here.

How has your seasonal sewing been going?
Anyone started making Spring/Autumn sewing plans yet?

Happy Sewing!

Comments

  1. Tomasa23 July 2016 at 16:57

    You look beautiful in this gorgeous dress. What a beautiful fabric too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Barbarags23 July 2016 at 23:38

    I saw the photo of the dress on the Club Summer sewalong site and loved it. I like it even more having seen the shoulder detail. I'm glad you are shortening the dress only a little bit as I love the way the dress shows off the beautiful fabric.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

April Garment of the Month - Dress for Easter

Image
Pattern Review: Butterick 4443 Happy Easter! After spending Saturday in sunny Brighton, today in London is a such a contrast. Grey and miserable, but the perfect excuse to curl up in bed with a coffee and catch up on sewing blogs. So here is my April garment of the month - another version of Butterick 4443 . I have made this previously here  and I really love the style of the dress. I picked up this crepe like fabric from Goldhawk Road priced at £3 per metre sometime last year. I knew instantly that it would be great for another version of the dress. It drapes perfectly. As the fabric was quite thin I underlined all of the pieces with some stretch lining picked up from Simply Fabrics in Brixton, priced at £1 per metre.  I cut a size 14 and made my usual alteration to take in the waist and under the bust. I was very proud of myself as last time I made this dress I altered the skirt to make it shorter and remove some of the fullness. For this I traced a new ski
Read more

July Garment of the Month

Image
Pattern Review: Simplicity 1872 My mum had a retirement party this weekend and of course I had to make a dress to celebrate. I had been wanting to try out the dress from Simplicity 1872 for years and finally decided to take the plunge. I have made this pattern as a peplum top  before, but it was so old that it went to the charity shop earlier this year, so it's nice to have another iteration of the pattern in my wardrobe. Ok,so let's talk fabric. I picked this up at the textile district around the Sacre Couer on my holiday to Paris with my mum last September. It cost €10 for 3 metres which is a bargain. I am pretty sure that it is some kind of polyester chiffon. I underlined the dress with stretch lining from Simply Fabrics in Brixton priced at £1 per metre.  I know that a couple of people have mentioned that there is a huge amount of ease in this pattern. It is true and I took out approximately 2" in the bodice and cut a larger armhole to compensate. Th
Read more

First Summer Dress of the Season

Image
Pattern Review: New Look 6263 I don't seem to be doing very well on the blogging front as here is a dress that I finished at the beginning of April. This is a wearable muslin for New Look 6263.   This pattern came into my life during a fabric/pattern swap with my sewing group. To be honest it isn't one that I would usually choose, but one of my good friends made it and it looked great and I also knew that it would be a nice dress to show off the drape and print of a fabric. I cut a size 14 straight out of the envelope. For some reason I found sewing the collar a bit fiddly although there is nothing in the construction details that make it challenging. This dress is very tent like in shape so I only ever wear it belted. Therefore, if I were to make this again I would almost certainly make a swayback adjustment (you can see the excess fabric in the back). As this was a wearable muslin I didn't line it, but I did french seam the insides for a neater finish.
Read more