Mccalls 7381 - Take Two

How are we all? Coping well with the frankly miserable weather we've been having recently? No? Me neither. 

This whole cold and rainy weather situation is making me miserable. I want to wear pretty dresses and dolly shoes and my denim jacket! I am so sick of being bundled up in 100 layers with my vest tucked into my knickers [if you don't tuck your vest into your pants, try it! Keeps your tummy lovely and snug!]

Anyway I was being a complete whinge bag about it last night. Mainly because I have the beginnings of a cold. But Rikki was kind enough to point out that in summer my hay fever starts up and I'll be back in the same snotty situation I am now....... But with cuter dresses and less tights.

Anyway this dress is one of those rare hybrids where the combination of the style and the fabric means it looks as nice with a denim jacket and no tights as it does with a big chunky cardigan, thick tights and boots.

The fabric is a poly satin and was given to me by the lovely Sara [insta : @saraknitsandsews]. Basically during one of the photo challenges she posted this fabric under the title "what was I thing?" and said if anybody wanted it she would be happy to have it taken off her hands. *waves hands furiously in the air* .

I love it! Its such a fun and quirky print and we all know how much I love the challenge of a boarder print! So thanks Sara your a babe and there is some seriously good karma coming your way!

Right so the pattern is Mccalls 7381, which I got from a magazine and I've already made here. This however is the size down from the first version I made and due to fabric shortages I omitted the sleeves. 

So this one is a size small and to be honest I'm still having some issues with the fit. It looks okay from the front but from the back and the side it still looks like their is far to much fabric. I think for my next version I'm going to try and put elastic around the whole waist to see if that helps and if not I guess I'm going to have to chalk this pattern up as an experience. 

This version only has elastic at the back. Which is a solid 10 on the comfort scale but I'd rather it looked good too. Mainly I've been wearing it with a cardigan though so you can;t see the extra fabric at the back.

Construction wise it went together really easily. The only really fiddly bits were the ties and the pleats and guttingly both of these details are lost in the busyness of the print. 

I didn't even adjust the hem so if you like a hem with more coverage then you may need to add some to the pattern. FYI I'm 5,6ish and it hits me just above the knee.

It took a good bit of pattern tetris to make sure that the colour gradient was the same the whole way around. The only compromise was that the back bodice lining had to be pieced. Instead of cutting on the fold I had to cut each bit separately and add a seam allowance and then stitch them together. You can't tell from the outside though and their are no raw edges on the inside. 

Looking at these pictures I probably could have left of the tie and saved myself some hassle. 

I added one of my sew in labels to the back. I'm still not quite over the novelty of having my name inside my clothes!

This is the pleat detail on the shoulder which takes loads of time but is basically lost in the print!

And the tie detail which also takes a lot of time and is again lost!

So aside from a few small fit issues I'm actually really pleased with this pattern. And the print is to die for! I love how bright and colourful it is! 

In other news! 

- I've traced a pattern from a dress book I got for Xmas and I can't wait to sew it up!

- My friend has given me a load of his records! Which is pretty cool because this girl loves records!

Much Love 

Frankie 

xxx