Spring Trends - Gingham in McCalls 6506

I started this dress three years ago when it was new to the pattern catalog and blogged about it here. Every spring since then I've pulled it out and looked at it and every time I've hung it back on the wall with the rest of the UFOs. There were too many ideas, too many things that I wanted to make so it hung there waiting.

McCalls 6506 - OOP

Lately I've been looking at garments differently. Most of my UFOs are fit problems that I thought I would solve later. Well later has arrived for this one because when I pulled it down last week and tried it on, I couldn't believe it fit. Gawd, at least here is one benefit to the weight loss!

Honestly there are some challenges with the bodice because if I'd cut it now I would have cut a C cup bodice because both my bustline and bra size have changed. I also would have included the waistline darts that the pattern features. However I was able to made it work.

I know that I linked to my pattern alterations in an earlier post but reviewing them now I'm thrilled with the changes I made. Lately it seems as if I've lost my mind, not remembering simple pattern alterations, because I'm so overwhelmed by fitting challenges. So it's good to know that if I just settle down hopefully all of that will come back!

Here's the finished dress...

The changes I made to the pattern...

If you notice there is no collar on my version. It's not because I couldn't make the collar fit, but because when I tried the dress on again I liked it collarless. 

So I drafted new facings for the dress front and omitted the front band since I was going in a different direction...

Facings for the bodice front

Front band facing for the skirt

Added them to the front...

Removed the pockets from the front because I wasn't feeling them and I'm really not a pocket kinda girl.

Used a store bought belt instead of the self tie belt with the pattern.

Now as excited as I was about this dress when I realized it fit, I'm as unexcited about it now. Even if I'd finished this dress exactly as the pattern describes, I wouldn't have liked it. What I became aware of is that I don't like this silhouette on me. It's probably why I have so few dresses like this.

It's interesting. People see you and think one thing or another NOT realizing that you don't see yourself that way.  AND no matter what they think, it won't change how you see yourself. I like and prefer to wear a slimmer silhouette. In my mind's eye, that's how I look best. So I will probably wear this dress, just very infrequently because it's sooooo not me!

Up next is another version of my TNT dress.  This time in a woven fabric (ltwt. wool/silk blend) using the four piece back pattern pieces to address my upper back fitting issues.

Parting Shots...

...as always more later!

Do you remember this?

It's McCalls 6506 and this is where it stands...

Now I hate unfinished objects (UFOs) but I'm putting the leftover fabric, the uncut pattern pieces and the pattern envelope into a storage bag.  Then I'm moving it all to the side on the fabric wall.  Why do you ask?  Especially since I don't like UFOs? Well, you will eventually see (Mimi loved your comment btw!) that the pieces I just made, while constructed using linen fabric are in transitional fall colors.

Just two weeks ago, before I started vacation, I awoke at 5:30am to the sun rising.  I'm now waking to darkness...yes, the sun does rise while I'm in the shower and it's light out by the time I walk to the bus stop but autumn and the darkness is coming.  So while I'm not ready to sew wools yet, I do realize that it's time to put summer sewing away.  That's what's happened to this dress...it just can't go forward into fall...so I'm admitting it and setting it aside to wait for next spring.

Now that's not saying that I've jumped into fall sewing with both feet...please I'm pulling hard against that right now.  Not because I love the heat of summer...but I do like the long hours of light.  I do like the fact that I can wear dresses and skirts without concerns and I'm honestly just not looking forward to the cold.

Realistically change of the seasons is coming...so it's time to move forward with it. I have one more dress I'd like to make from a wool/linen/silk blend and then I've planned another wardrobe that I'd like to start sewing now and through to the end of the year. I've had some success with wardrobes this year, first the "Lavender & Gray Skies" one and then "The Ten Yard Adventure."  I'm excited about this new one which is a little more involved with quite a few more pieces. I'm sure I'll still be sewing it come January but once again this wardrobe will fill some gaps in my wardrobe and will encompass several of the fall trends.

So my McCalls 6506 dress will sit and wait for the spring to come when I'll get back to it. Right now, I'm moving forward not back...

...as always more later!

McCalls 6506 - The Bodice

The pattern description on the envelope's back is minimal - Dress has collar, collar and front band, fitted bodice with darts stitched on right side of fabric, pleated skirt, attached belt, self-carriers and stitched hem.

I bought this pattern back when it first appeared on McCall's website.  I loved it on first sight.  I just wasn't sure if it would work on my body.  But I've seen quite a few of these waisted shirt dresses on the retail plus size sites and I decided to take a chance.  After seeing a gingham dress from Landsend that was pinned to Erica's pinterest site, I rambled through my fabric collection because I knew that I'd purchased some large block linens earlier in the year.

I decided on this white/gray large gingham linen for the skirt portion of the dress...

My next thought was to use some of the white cotton pique that I'd acquired a few years ago.  But when I was going to pull the cotton pique from the collection, my hand fell on two lightweight white linens.  I went with the one that had been prewashed so that I could avoid that step.  So I'm making a two-toned dress.  Of course, I couldn't do something easy, right?

At first I thought I would make a muslin of the bodice because that's the part that troubled me the most.  Could I get a decent fit?  Would I be able to make it fit my very full waistline?  Will I end up with a wadder? I have to admit that I made minimal changes to the bodice.

• I added an inch to the front and back bodice at the lengthen and shorten line.
• Then I trued up the side seams.
• I made a rounded back adjustment to the back bodice piece
• The shoulder seam was shortened by 1.5"
• I omitted the front and back darts.

When I realized that I had at least 2 yards of the white linen, I decided to go ahead and make up the bodice from the fabric.  I had plenty left to recut either the front or the back if needed and I thought I would get a better impression using the fashion fabric.

  
So I cut the fabric out and basted it together...here is a bathroom shot of me checking the fit...

(I hate bathroom shots because they are so unflattering!

But it works for seeing if the top will fit)

I'm encouraged so I will take the bodice apart and underline it with a cotton batiste because the linen is a little sheer.  

Bodice sewn and waiting for the skirt

Next up is the skirt...gonna have to work out that pleat placement...

...as always more later!