Here is the dress completed:
Pattern:
McCalls 6460
Fabric:
2.5 yards wool/silk rayon floral print rayon from Vogue Fashion Fabrics
.5 yards of navy blue ponte knit - Fabric Mart
Notions:
22" blue invisible zipper
2 yards blue bemberg lining
Construction:
I don't like the finished dress. It doesn't fit as well as I thought it would. I'm sure it's operator error but there's pulling at the raglan sleeves that I don't like and have no desire to fix. I've already reworked the sleeves to make them bigger for my bodacious biceps and changed up the neckline so that it would lay closer to my chest and back...it's good enough...not perfect...not amazing...just good enough...and I'm okay with that.
A few more things...
- The pattern goes up to a size 22 and I added additional space by using my TNT pattern as the body for the dress.
- There is a dart in the top of the original raglan sleeve pattern that left a funny bump at the dart tip...that was one of the issues with the original sleeve pattern.
- I did have to add that dart back in but I did it by making a larger stitch in the seam allowance...the seam that I added to the sleeve pattern to add width for my biceps.
- I only used the side darts in the dress omitting the center front darts.
- The rayon fabric is underlined because it was light and sheer. I wanted to build up the fabric a little and insure that it was no longer see thru.
- The sleeve and dress hems are machine stitched. I honestly didn't care about quality by this point. I just wanted to move this from the UFO category to being finished.
- My daughter and my Mom like the dress and I did sit around in it for about an hour so it was comfortable to wear...
...a few more pics...
Earrings: Judith Ripka
Necklace: Honora Pearls
Shoes: Jessica London
Back View
I have to honestly say that I don't recommend this pattern. I like the styling but the finished dress is just okay.
P.S. ~ Parting Shot - me and my oldest grandson!!! He will be 11 at the end of the month.
...as always more later!
Yesterday after I pulled myself out of the Colette Sewing Book, I went back to working on the McCalls dress. I did a fitting when I got the base of the dress together...everything was looking good. Then I put the sleeves and the band onto the dress neckline and got this:
Now don't these two fabrics look fantastic together! I was psyched! I put the almost finished dress (no hems) on and *sigh* knew I was going to spend some quality time with my seam ripper. The sleeves are too small and it's causing the dress front to pull...actually the sleeves are just wrong and need to be redone. But here is the heartbreaking part - I have no more silk left. Or if there is a remnant around, I have no idea where it is (don't get me started on those dayum fabric bins!)
After casting around for another idea, I remembered that I had some navy ponte knit. Which I did have enough sense to put in a separate bin, so it was easy to find. Here's a pic of this combination:
Not as pretty as the original one, right? However, it will work...but at this point I was pretty well done for the night, so I turned everything off and headed upstairs to watch television...at 9:30pm!
This morning with the sun shining bright and a renewed fervor, I pulled out my seam ripper and started ripping the neckband and sleeves apart. I will redraft the sleeve pattern. I will make a two-part sleeve with a seam down the center instead of a single sleeve with a dart at the sleeve cap. I will finish the dress.
Of course this journey is taking a little longer than I thought. But since I'm making a conscientious effort to slow my sewing down, as well as, trying to use more new patterns (hey I buy them, I should use them!) making this dress will probably consume my entire Thanksgiving recess. And in the morning light, even that's okay. It's not like I don't have anything else to wear! *smile*
...as always, more later!
This dress pattern caught my eye as soon as it was issued, probably because of it's raglan sleeves - my latest design feature crush. And even though all of the pictures and drawings show the dress in evening fabrics, I could actually see a work dress in View B. So first a pic of the pattern:
Then I was flipping through the December 2011 issue of Marie Claire and this fabric combination caught my eye. The inspiration dress is by Jason Wu from his Resort 2012 collection:
...and I knew what fabrics I wanted to use for my version of the M6460 dress. Best of all I had these fabrics in my "current fabrics" bin so no digging through bins to find fabrics. The floral print wool challis was purchased from Vogue Fabrics Fall 2011 swatch club mailing. The blue silk crepe was re-purposed from this UFO that I made back in May. It will be used for the sleeves with the base of the dress from the floral print.
I want to make a few more dresses to wear while the weather is still warm enough to wear them. So this is the first project I'm working on during the Thanksgiving recess. This is a little different from my normal "work dress" choices but since I now own a closet full of "professional" clothing, I'm attempting to make some outfits that are a little edgier and better reflect my personality!
...as always, more later!
