Patchwork Twirl Dress. McCall's M6497

Last summer my daughter was with me on a pattern shopping trip and found this sweet dress.  I told her  it would be no problem to whip up.  (I was thinking about what a clever way to use up some scraps.)

McCall's M6497

I did make this at the end of last summer, but it was so large (size 8) I put it away for this spring.

McCall's M6497

A few notes about this dress if you have a cutie that wants a patchwork dress:

1.  It doesn't take a few scraps to make this dress, but almost 6 yards of fabric.

2.  It runs VERY large.

3.  The directions for putting together the patchwork skirt are "interesting."  

4.  It doesn't have a placket in the back.  The back bodice is sewn to the skirt.  Since it is so large, I doubt anyone will have problems with trying to get it onto a little body.

Back view of McCall's 6497

This skirt make a girl twirl!

Can you see the 6 yards of fabric?

Looking Good Jacket by MacPhee Workshop

Looking Good Jacket by MacPhee Workshop

Every few sewing projects need to be easy to keep some variety in your sewing life.  This is one of those simple projects and I love the results.

Pattern:  Looking Good Jacket by MacPhee Workshop

Fabric:  black bamboo jersey knit

Lessons learned:  

This is a great fitting pattern.

With a ravel-free knit, you don't even have to finish all the hems!

You only need your serger to make the whole jacket.

I used my coverstitch machine and was not super pleased with the stitching over a few layers of thin knit.  It would be better to self-line the jacket and save the topstitching.

It takes a fair amount of fabric to make the circles for the flounces, but they look great.

After making it the first time, it would take me about 2 hours tops to make another.  

True to its title, it is a Good Looking Jacket!

Back View

AG Rebecca costume and look alike contest!

 1914

Rebecca costume from Med Welch and Children's Corner patterns

 April brings my daughter's lit club to the time period of Rebecca, 1914.  

So, here is the costume:

Rebecca Costume based on Children's Corner patterns.

Doll Dress Details:

1890 Hi/Low Waist Dress from Med Welch on Etsy.

I made the high waist dress with the wide round collar.  Easy pattern to follow the directions and make a great dress.  My only fault with the pattern in putting 18" doll set-in sleeves.  I always set in clothing sleeves, but doll sleeves make my fingers cramp.

1890 Hi/Low Waist Dress

Back view of dresses and even the girl and doll's hair match!

Close-up of bodice

This dress was tough to photograph.  The small print drives your auto focus nuts.

Love the full skirt with side pleats to match the doll.

The Girl's Dress:

Pattern:  

Bodice and Sleeves:  Children's Corner Lily with an A-line modification at the bottom of the bodice

Collar:  Children's Corner Louise

Skirt:  Children's Corner Sassy Skirt

Fabric:

OLD navy blue quilting cotton from my stash

(My daughter dislikes the fabric, so she dislikes this dress.  Her comment after seeing the dress was something like this: "How about we collaborate on the fabric selection next time?" )

Construction:

NOT ALL PATTERNS FROM THE SAME COMPANY WILL FIT TOGETHER, but Children's Corner patterns are made that way.  Such a breeze to put this dress together with the many different design choices from multiple patterns.  After sewing up the doll dress, I could easily pick the pattern pieces from a few Children's Corner patterns and come up with this dress.

Children's Corner Sassy Skirt, Louise, and Lily.

Lily bodice piece that was angled into an A-line for the flounce effect.

Yeah!  Only one more dress to go!

Full Skirt.

Close-up of doll.

Happy smile!

The dog joined the photo shot.

Big brother joined the photo shot.

Instead of a Just Like Me doll, Rebecca matches my daughter to a T.

Next month is the last lit club and will be in honor of Kit.  

Vera Wang White Eyelet Easter Dress, New Look 6205

Vera Wang White Eyelet and New Look 6205

This dress may be one of my favorites of all the dresses I have made.  

I love the style and the drape of the dress.

I cut it out on Palm Sunday and she wore it to Easter service today.  

There are tons of details on this dress.

Vera Wang Eyelet and New Look 6205 Back View

Fabric:

Fashion Fabric:   White Vera Wang Eyelet purchased from Connie Palmer about 4 years ago at Martha Pullen Sewing School.  Farmhouse Fabrics still has this in stock, but it is in the Barn Closeout section.

Underlining: Salmon Pink Polyester lining from my stash

Lining:  White lawn from my stash

Pattern:

New Look 6205, view A

I did a muslin of this the week before.

Cutting:

To cut all three layers of wiggle fabric took a little brainstorming.  So this was my solution:

1.  Tape two large pieces (more than 2 yards) of butcher paper together.  

2.  Pin the lawn layer to the butcher paper.  I did this with the fabric open.  (Only one layer)  Pin it all the way around and some in the middle.

3.  Pin the pink lining fabric to the top of the white lawn.  Pin all the way through the lawn and include the butcher paper.  This was done with the fabric open. (Only one layer)

4.  Pin the eyelet to the top of the pink polyester.  Pinning all the way through to the butcher paper.

When I finished the pinning of the fabric to the paper, I could move the paper and fabric around my cutting table and nothing moved.  

I positioned the pattern pieces on the top of this fabric sandwich and pinned it well.  I cut out each piece, reversing those that needed a mirror image.  I DID NOT remove the pins from any of this sandwich.

This is a sample of the edge of my fabric and paper sandwich.

Prep:

I wanted to use the pink polyester lining as the underlining and the white lawn as the true lining fabric. So I needed to join the eyelet and pink underlining fabric as the seams.  In true couture style I hand basted the center bodice section with it still pinned to the paper and in my fabric sandwich.  After doing that piece, I realized that if we were going to finish this by Easter, I better come up with a faster plan.

So, I took each pattern piece in the fabric sandwich and folded down the paper and white lawn and ran the side seams through my sewing machine on a basting stitch.  The eyelet had to go on the feed dogs or it would stretch.  While not technically true couture, it worked on my time budget.

All the seams were done this way, except for the top of the skirt.  I joined all three layers, except for the last 1 1/2" near the sides.

By keeping all three layers pinned to the paper, there was no distortion or stretching of the pattern pieces.  A great solution for lining fabric that doesn't want to hold its shape and the eyelet was a tough fabric because it would stretch easily where there were holes.  (Holes happened to be everywhere.)

German Interfacing was used on the neck and shoulder line for about 3" from the neckline to give it a little firmness.

The front and back skirt pleats were done as one, through all three layers of fabric.

Bodice Close-up View

Construction:

I assembled the dress mostly according to the pattern, but with a complete lining.  The neckline was understitched.  The satin ribbon was added.  Since six layers of fabric came together for the zipper, I used a regular zipper, instead of an invisible one.  The zipper was a bear to get in properly, the eyelet wanted to stretch and pucker.  So, I hand picked the zipper to insert it and it looks like an invisible zipper. I will keep the hand picked zipper in my sewing skill set because it works so well.

For the hem of the skirt and sleeves, I used a catch stitch to lay the eyelet and pink lining fabric flat.  Then I slipped stitched the white lawn down, covering the edges of the eyelet.  This combo makes a wonderful hem and makes the edges of the dress look like they float.  You can't see the hemline or feel any bulk.

The satin ribbon rose is a double loop rose from the Kari Mecca line of Sewing with Whimsy books.

This dress looks great and hangs wonderfully.  The few couture details really added a lot to the final product.  It amazes me the added body a fabric has with an underlining.  I was so pleased with the underlining, that I can see more of this in my future projects.

Happy Easter!  He is Risen!