McCall's 6956

So this one's a bit of a flop. It really just lacks wearability. It's still cute, but could probably benefit from the addition of straps.

Pattern Used: McCall's 6956

View Made: B

Fabric Used: Quilting cotton and broadcloth. Just a note about the quilting cotton, I really REALLY wanted to match up the stripes and have it all perfect, but they apparently don't repeat, so there will be no matching. I don't think it really impacted the overall look of the dress too much.

Pattern Details: Strapless, fitted bodice, pleated skirts and hem band. A/B, C, D Cup Size, boning 

What did you like about this pattern? I like that the bust is cut on the bias to give those cool-looking chevrons.

What did you dislike about this pattern? Not much. I did have to do something that I didn't want to, which was sewing the lining pieces directly to my good fabric and then treating them as one piece. That was SO INCORRECT, and should never be done in a properly constructed garment, but because of the boning and the pleats, I had no other choice if I wanted to line the dress. And I had to slipstitch the WHOLE HEM BAND in place. It took me at least two hours to do. I HATE slipstitching. Unfortunately, because of how the dress was supposed to look over all, there were no other options, otherwise that hem band would have gone through the machine in an instant. If there was other topstitching, maybe, but there was no other topstitching so I thought it would look stupid to have some along the hem band and nowhere else. 

Were the instructions easy to follow? Yes. The instructions were quite good, however, they seem to forget that on the sides, to insert the boning, you would need to sew right through the dress, not just attach it to the seam allowances, because of the waist seam. I feel this was a minor glitch and my boning inserts along the sides are not noticeable.

What did you learn from this pattern? Inserting boning. It is much easier than I expected and will allow me to create more tailored and fitted garments in the future.

Final thoughts: I don't think I'll make this one again. It's just meh, not amazing, as I wanted it to be. I tried it for the strapless aspect, which worked, but didn't fit as well as it could have. I really wanted to like it, with all the playing with fabric grain, but no. It will go in to a pile to be worn over a bathing suit or some such. Also, I was lucky. Usually I would've made a size 12, but the finished measurements said it would have too much bust ease, so I made a size 10. It fit with only a little let out at the sides, which was nice.

Pictures:

Front View

Close up of  the Bust Chevrons

Back View

Hem Band

Come back for my next post on JEANS! I'm so excited about them. :)

Butterick 5982

This one came out of the "make this in the future" bin, and so I was less than enthusiastic when I was making it. However, it turned out SO WELL!

Pattern Used: Butterick 5982

Pattern Details: Fitted bodice, high boatneck, pleated/gathered skirt, accent belt, A/B, C, D Cup Size

Fabric Used: Linen, with broadcloth lining

View Made: B

What did you especially like about this pattern? I like the contrast skirt and I like that it's not a super-low-cut bodice.

What did you especially dislike about this pattern? Nothing. It was very straightforward.

Did you change the pattern at all? No, except for adding pockets and lining to the skirt.

Were the instructions easy to follow? Yes. However, I found it strange that you sew together the strips of the skirt horizontally and then have to match the side seams. I suppose that is so that it's not crucial that they line up perfectly, but I would have preferred to make the front and the back, then sew them together along the sides.

Did you learn anything from this pattern? Nope. It was pretty easy. 

Final Thoughts: This just turned out super classy and professional and grown-up looking.

Pictures:

I was only able to get one picture of this dress that wasn't blurry. Here it is!

Butterick 6049

Ok. I love how this dress looks on the model. I obviously do not have the model's figure as I had MAJOR fit problems with this dress. Read on to find out why.

Pattern used: Butterick 6049

Patten Details: Fitted, halter top bodice, circle skirt and pockets.

Fabric used: Red and white polka dot quilting cotton and white broadcloth

What did you especially like about this pattern? The halter top. I've never made and very seldom wear halter tops.

What did you especially dislike about the pattern? The fit after I sewed it all up. I made my customary size 12, but it only half fit. The waist fit perfectly, but the bodice was designed for someone with a much bigger bust than me. The back gaped about three inches (which I ended up taking out at the zipper) and the halter top ends were much too long. I ended up overlapping them by about two inches. The dress now fits decently, but still not perfectly. It also has a rumple-y waist, that I don't think I can fix. There just seems to be a little too much fabric under the bust. Also, when attaching the halter pieces to the midriff, it was almost impossible to get the two white points to line up correctly. I gave up after about five tries, but they are still slightly off-kilter.

Did you change the pattern at all? Nope, except for the above-mentioned alterations

Did you learn anything from this pattern? Nope. Except that it reinforced that I DISLIKE slipstitching.

Final thoughts: I really wanted to like this dress. It's so cute in the pictures. But I don't really. It looks nice NOW but it was a hassle to alter it. Especially because I took it in to fit my dress form, and it STILL had extra fabric in the bust area. I'll wear it, because it does look nice now, but I'll need some time to get over how much extra work I had to put in to it.

Pictures:

Front view

 

Back View

 

Also, I'll be taking a small hiatus from posting for a while. Keep checking back, hopefully I'll be posting again in a couple of weeks!