McCalls 6696 - Take 2

As you can tell from the Gabriola skirt, I'm obsessed with linen.  While it wrinkles in the wearing, it is a pleasure to sew and wear - it takes high heat steaming/pressing well, and drinks in topstitching beautifully.  Fabrics-store.com was having one of their "get one yard of linen for free" sales so I bought three yards of their color "Meadow" and made another McCalls 6696 shirtdress, this time view "D" with the more narrow skirt with pockets:

I had been waiting to make this version since I saw Handmade Jane's denim dress.  Here's my version:

(Not thrilled about the slightly uneven hemline at the front.)  Here's a closer shot:  I made the cuffs as drafted which The Carpenter described as "Star Trek":

 I've made this dress before, with the pleated skirt, in a quilting cotton, but I don't remember the back being quite this blousy before.  The linen really accentuated the blousy-factor:

 Next time, I will definitely remove some of the width in the back pattern piece to cut down on this poofiness in the back.  It's a little ridiculous.  

In addition to sewing view D this time instead of view B, I used the "C" cup front pattern piece because I felt like last dress I made was a little short in the front, and this might be due to the fact that I needed a larger cup size:

In the end, I don't think I need the "C" cup - I think this dress has a tendency to pull to the back at the shoulders and neck area, causing the front waist to rise up and I don't know why.  I don't know if it is how the dress is drafted, or if there is some alteration that I need to make that I don't know about:

Other than that, I cut and sewed a size 12.  I found, though, that the skirt was a little bit tight, so I let it out as much as I could in the hips, given that I had already trimmed the side seams and finished them with an overlock stitch, so there wasn't much I could let out. It fits, but I want to remember to add a little extra in the hips next time.

I added 1 inch to length, and hemmed with my favorite method, which is using a strip of fabric cut on the bias and then folded in half like french binding.   It gives a nice clean hem, and is an easy way to provide length.  This time, unlike my last version, I remembered to lengthen the front bands so I didn't have to piece them:

 While I had this dress done for ages, it took me awhile to get the buttons on it; all that topstitching and pressing of this wonderful linen ended up being a goodly amount of work, and I really didn't want to put plastic buttons on this dress.  So I splurged for real pearl shell buttons I got at Chadwick Heirlooms:

They weren't cheap - these 10 buttons cost me about $ 18.00.  I can definitely say that when I wear this dress out, I'll be saving the buttons for another project!

 Just like my last version, I added an enormous amount of topstitching that the pattern didn't call for.  As I said above, linen just drinks in topstitching.  It makes for a lovely finish, and helps with subsequent pressing, by keeping everything in place.  All and all, this project was an experiment in using Fabric-store.com's linen and it was nice to work with.  I'm looking forward to wearing this dress this summer!

McCalls 6696 - Another Shirtdress!

After cutting out my new Butterick coat, and working with the silk/wool blend Vogue dress largely on the bias, cutting out this shirtdress from quilting cotton seemed so easy and enjoyable!  I saw McCalls 6696, and was inspired by View B, the little pink dress in the upper left corner:

There were so many things about this pattern that made it the near-perfect shirtdress:  the skirt is pleated, rather than gathered, so the skirt lies more flat against the hips; the short sleeves cover but aren't too long; the front bodice has darts rather than gathers for a more flattering fit.

I made size 12 and the only alteration I made was to lengthen the skirt by an inch and quarter so the skirt covered my knee - I am weary of dresses that hit me mid-knee.  Either above the knee or below the knee, dear readers - anything else makes it look like you grew out of it last year.  So with my lengthening, the skirt ended up being 24.5 inches long.  Unfortunately, I failed to lengthen the front bands as well.  Rather than buy more fabric and cut two more bands, I just pieced the additional length to the front band pieces before attaching to the dress. I figured no one would notice, and still few would care.  I also omitted the side pockets to avoid extra bulk, as I usually do.  I added way more edgestitching to this dress than the instructions called for (which was exactly none).  I edgestitched the shoulder seams, collar, collarstand, front bands, and waistband. I think the edgestitching makes the dress more finished and pressing in the future easier.

My original plan (and it still is a plan) was to make a shirtdress from Liberty's Tana Lawn, but I haven't been able to find the absolute right fabric print yet.  Given that the Liberty lawn is $ 36 a yard, I won't use Liberty unless it is the end-all, be-all of Liberty lawns.  And since I haven't been able to find the Holy Grail of Liberty prints yet, I settled for four yards of "Bouquet Splendor" by Vicki Lynn Oehlke of Willowberry for Henry Glass fabrics (I'm reading the selvage as I type).  Four yards of "Bouquet Splendor" cost me about the same as one yard of Liberty lawn.

The collar is constructed with a separate collar stand, and it has been awhile since I've made a collar with a stand - my collar stand skills have gotten rusty (not that they were very well oiled!).  I used David Coffin's book instructions again which have you attach the stand to the shirt, and then the collar to the stand, rather than attaching the collar and the stand together, and then attaching the collar/stand business to your dress.  Doing Daivd Coffin's way gives you a better chance of a smooth stand and while mine wasn't perfect, I was pleased enough:

The back bodice, like my Easter dress, is made with gathers, rather than darts, so the back bodice bousens a bit:

I'd rather have darts for a smoother fit, but I have noticed that the more roomy your bodice, the smaller your waist looks!  Here's a close up that shows the fabric better, and shows a little gaposis at my waist; I might add an extra button on the waistband area if it bothers me:

I enoyed wearing this dress all day.  My plan was to wear it with a white linen blazer/jacket that I ordered, which never arrived, to make the outfit more business-like.  Today was finally the first day above 70 degrees, so today was the day for the first wearing, jacket or no jacket.  I got several compliments on the dress - all from women over 60 - but compliments nontheless!  I realize the style is a bit schoolmarm-ish, but I love it:

This dress is so ridiculously me, I know I'll wear it all summer!

In more exciting news, Mezmerina Atelier has nominated me for a Liebster award! I'm still ponding my answers to her questions and who I will nominate, but please go read her wonderful sewing blog.  Bruce is waiting for you!