McCall's 6744 Dress

Sure, I have lots of other projects that have long since been finished and remain unblogged. We're not talking about those right now!! :)

I forgot that I had a plan for this fabric when I saw a surplice RTW dress in a floral print, and I was sold. I have sewn this before, many years ago (2013 or 2014) and that really got me excited to make it. I'm all for sewing without cutting out paper patterns.

I posted a joke on Instagram that I was going to throw out every pattern I'd sewn in '13 and '14 because my cutting and adjustments are just horrendous! LOL! I'd made some really weird changes to this pattern and spent a little time bringing it current :)

I cut a size medium, added 1" to the back bodice at the waist and on the back skirt from the waist, tapering to nothing about midway down the thigh. The front neckline is cut as a size small but the rest is a medium. I didn't want the maxi length but knew the shorter length was too short. I decided to add 4" to the shorter length and hemmed at 1". 

The pattern is constructed by sewing the shoulders first and creating a casing for 1/4" elastic. Newbie me tossed(?) the elastic guide but was also smart enough to have noted the elastic length in the instructions. SCORE! I like the soft gathers that it creates, and it really secures the shoulder/sleeve area. If I happen to make this again, I will add some width for my biceps.

This was before I sewed a snap in place in front.

Next up is hemming the front neckline, which was quick and easy with the coverstitch. Then, I sewed the bodice side seams, and hemmed the armholes. I attached the bodice to the skirt with the sewing machine (basting the bodice first!) and serged the seam, creating an elastic casing (I'd sewn the skirt side seams first, via serger). Inserted the elastic, tried it on for length, a quick hem through the coverstitch, final press, and DONE! I started it on Tuesday and finished on Saturday. This slow sewing thing is new to me :-p

The fabric is an ITY from Fabric Mart that has apparently been in stash since 2018! It's a diagonal print which plays really nicely in some areas! It's ALSO a panel print. It totally says that it was a panel (I love my FM purchase history being searchable via my email) and I ordered 2 panels. But, I had THREE! I would not have been able to make the dress with the two 40" panels while paying any sort of attention to the print. So while I didn't fully plan it out, I did make some choices on the front panels and then worked the skirt pieces onto one panel. 

I LOVE IT SO MUCH AND IT IS EVERYTHING I WANTED! LOL!!

I am a volunteer board member for a local non-profit and this dress was perfect for this year's annual award ceremony. It hit just the right note on a warm, summer afternoon.

My husband has been really fixing up the back patio (we rent a townhome and this is our little personal "slice" of privacy) and the flowers make me smile and my dress blends right in!

Because I am still working on conjuring the mojo, I am going to focus on prepping a few projects for SewCamp or else who knows what I'll be working on! :-p