McCalls 6886 - Fitting the Pattern Again

I've used this pattern several times to make my daughter a couple of dresses. Once I made a series of dresses for her to wear while working in a salon underneath her smock. This is my favorite version of the dress for her - made in a stretch woven - and made to match the grandbabies:

From the Fashion Show two years ago...

My daughter sews and sewed a lot when she was younger.  However, with a full time job, four kiddies, a partner and a household to maintain, my daughter has stopped sewing.  Her sewing machine is still set up but she uses it to fix a hem or take up a seam for the kids.  She's worn all of the dresses I previously made into the ground.  She's also lost ALL of the baby weight and then some, so she's been belting them and wearing them with a cardigan.

I agreed to sew a couple of new dresses from ponte & ITY knit from the collection...gotta love that fabric collection!  She picked ten different pieces of fabric. We had to adjust the pattern slightly because she is smaller in the top but wider in the hips (babies) and barely has time to eat. 

This is part one of the possibly two or three posts about her new dresses, because I don't think I can get all of the dresses, fitting and construction information into one post.

Fitting Changes ~
I had to make some alterations to the original pattern pieces for her post babies body:

Side view - that back fold lies flat when she puts her arms down

Back adding space for her hips

Front pinned at the sides

Close up of the front neckline

Here is the pile of fabric I will be using to make new dresses for her...

There are a number of fabrications here and we will be changing up the length, necklines and sleeve lengths. Also, there are two wovens in the pile that I will add a little ease to the pattern, use a zipper and add a lining. The good thing is that she's not expecting these all at once. So I'm sewing a couple at a time. This is what I was referring to in my last blog post.

I didn't sew for the grandbabies this year because they grow to fast! However, I am sewing for their mother and her sister in 2018. So look for finished versions of the dresses on the blog sooner rather than later!  

...as always more later!

This, That, McCalls 6886 and a Winner

I didn't sew last weekend - the first in awhile. I don't know how much I'm going to sew this weekend even though I want to make my daughter more dresses cause I have ideas ~ loads of ideas! See I'm having dental work done and I am in a constant state of unease/pain and will be for sometime. 

I'm not the kind of woman to dream about plastic surgery - perkier boobs, liposuction or even "correcting" something on my face (not to say if that's your thing that something is wrong with it)...but teeth...I've always wanted pretty Hollywood teeth. 

Now that I'm only responsible for me and own ALOT of fabric and my perfect sewing machine, I've decided to get Hollywood teeth.  Lawd save me from myself!  I keep telling myself that this pain is will be worth it in the end.  That nothing good comes without a little pain to gain...we shall see if I last it out! *LOL*

So I've been resting, losing more weight cause it's hard to maintain it when you're only eating soup, very soft foods and frozen yogurt, reading books...everything but sewing!  Of course that means posts here will be sparse.

McCalls 6886:
However, I did want to share a few pictures of my daughter's latest versions of McCalls 6886.  BTW, this is a great pattern because it has a lot of options - long, short and sleeveless versions - different necklines and you can make it any length you want. 

The dresses are made from ponte from "The Ponte Collection", she went through it and chose a few pieces.  I made three dresses but only have pics of two. All of her fitting issues were documented in this blog post, although she has managed to lose all of the baby weight from Baby Joshua and a few more pounds. I guess working a full time job, maintaining a household and being the mother of 4 is conducive to losing weight! Anyway, we took some more in on the sides and the center back to get a tighter fit.

Once I have something to photograph again, I will have her bring the dresses and I'll take better photos or maybe photos of new dresses...anyway here are the last ones I made ~

Blue/black printed ponte with faux leather short sleeves 

and binding at the neckline

Maroon ponte knit with long sleeves

A Follow-up:
I wanted to add another comment to the conversation that took place on my "Pattern Testing" post.  I wanted to emphasize that I wrote that post because I received an email asking why I don't test and it seemed easier to write a blog post about it rather than just send an email.  I also wanted to emphasize that I have no problems with pattern testing by indie designers. I'm not sure if either of those points were clear in my post based upon some of the comments.

A Winner:
I know this is what y'all really came back for! *LOL* Since there were several 2 comment entries (and I really appreciate it that you guys followed the rules!) I cut up little pieces of paper, wrote your names on them, folded them and placed them in a gift bag.  Then I asked my Mom to pull the winning name. 

Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo the winner is:

Contact me at cnorman underscore 98 at yahoo dot com or leave a comment below - hopefully by Sunday evening and I will get the pattern and fabric out to you on Monday.

Well that's what I've been up to!  I really hope that you're enjoying all of the Cashmerette Appleton dresses that are popping up in the sewing blogosphere...want to give a special shout-out to Rachelle at Smoking Needles. I love her wearable muslin version...check it out here!

...as always more later! 

McCalls 6886

My daughter is starting a new job. It's been over a year since she's worked because having Miss Sammy was a little challenging.  Now that Miss Sammy is seven months old, is happy and healthy, her mother has found a new salon to work at.  Which means my daughter needs a few new easy outfits that will work for now as well as carry her into fall.  Trying to sew with three children five and under is challenging to say the least...and since I had some time this weekend...we decided to stack and whack!

McCalls 6886

We started with McCalls 6886 because it's a simple knit dress with two pieces - one for the front and one for the back. She wanted the sleeveless version for its versatility. You know add a cardigan or shirt over it, or a turtleneck, or a button down with a belt and the dress is a hardworking garment. 

First I tissue fit the pattern pieces to her. A process that she was unaware of...how is that possible when she took sewing classes in high school? Anyway, I made a few changes to the pattern.

• For the back pattern piece I made a petite adjustment by folding out 2" inches.
• I used a size 14 for the shoulders, neckline and bustline area and a 16 in the waist and hips.

After cutting out, I used a small zigzag stitch on my sewing machine to baste the dress together so she could try it on.  After trying it on, it was a little loose. I made most of the changes to the back of the dress since she is smaller in the back than in the front. The alterations were made by having my daughter wear the dress inside out. Then I pinned out the excess fabric and serged it off using the pins as a guide.

Pinned the cut off piece to the pattern piece

Pattern Piece after it's been adjusted 

and new cutting line added

• Then the dress was serged together. 
• I used stay tape at the shoulder seams for stability.
• The neckline and armholes were turned under and stitched flat.
• Stitch witchery was used in the hemline.

Here she is wearing the black version made from a black ponte knit from Fabric Mart...

Subsequent versions of the dress took about 70 minutes (yes I timed it!) to make and only one yard of fabric...a perfect sew.  I made five of these in one day. Three (Two from the black ponte & a black 'n white herringbone ITY) she took home and the rest she'll pick up later this week. 

These two are also from a ponte from Fabric Mart

We  used both sides of the fabric for two new dresses

Now I'm scouring the fabric collection to see if I can come up with five more. Two weeks worth of dresses that can be dressed up, down and around will make getting dressed in the morning so easy...especially since she's got three little kids to wake up and get ready too!

I think I have another couple of weeks of unselfish sewing going on.  I bought a pair of leggings for Miss Lena this weekend and I want to compare them to McCalls 6457 (sorry it's out of print) to make up some leggings for her along with a few tops.

McCalls 6457

Then I'm finally going to get back to those Deer & Doe t-shirts for my co-workers! So there's going to be a lot of sewing going on during the next couple of weeks, just not much for me.

However, I am making up my fall/winter sewing list and I can tell you that there isn't much quick and easy on it. I have a lot of clothing now so I feel like I can take my time and really enjoy the sewing journey. Though I have to tell you it was awesome turning out five dresses in one day!!!

...as always more later!