McCall’s 6686 is another pattern that kept coming up on Pattern Review’s Favorite Make’s list, so I decided to give it a try and see what all the fuss was about. While it was A MILLION TIMES BETTER than this unfortunate make (which I have since adjusted in the yoke, length and hemline shape to make less horrific, but which, surprisingly, didn’t work at all, so now it’s been relegated to ‘house dress’ status) I wouldn’t say that I am in love with it. I’m kind of ‘meh’ about it, although I’m happy with the way it came out and I know that I will wear it again.
The fit needs more tinkering, even though I muslined the dress and made a bunch of changes to it already. Honestly I should have just stuck to my Closet Case Nettie dress, which I made once a couple of years ago and loved. The fabric I used was pretty cheap so the black color in my knit started looking gray and fuzzy immediately after its first washing and I didn’t get as much wear out of it as I had anticipated. But it’s a great design with some amazing options in terms of back and neck lines, and I already knew it fit me really well, so I can’t imagine why I bought this McCall’s pattern in the first place – I must have just forgotten how similar the silhouettes of these two pattern are (I don’t like having two of essentially the same pattern in my stash, so if I had remembered, I probably wouldn’t have purchased this one). I blame my lack of pattern organization for this little oversight, which is something I am VERY excited to say will not be happening anymore since I spent 16 hours over a recent weekend cataloguing every single pattern that I own! More on that in a future blog post…
Anyways, this dress. The fit just looks a little humdrum to me- it’s like, too baggy or something? I am not even into super tight body- con dresses, but this fit makes me feel like I am going to church (spoiler alert, I do not go to church- and if I did I probably still wouldn’t wear this). Thankfully, the dress is super simple and it’s a knit, so it won’t be difficult to tighten it up just a bit in the sides, and I might toy with either shortening it or having the dress taper in just a tiny bit above the knees. My big beef with pencil skirts is that they are normally drafted to fall straight down from the widest part of my hips and this dress is designed in the same way. I just don’t feel cute in that look! It’s very “Pam” from ‘The Office’, and I’m more of a toned-down Kelly Kapur. Weirdly I didn’t realize how off the fit was til I saw these photos of it; when I wore the dress in Vegas at Clexa Con a couple of months ago, I felt great in it! But that might have been my mind playing tricks on me. I kind of hate Vegas, and I couldn’t bear to spend an entire weekend in that weird den of smoke-filled lobbies while also hating what I was wearing- it would have been too much to contend with.
I can’t remember the size I made in this dress, and I actually did so much adjusting with the pattern pieces that it doesn’t matter anyways. I know I graded up to a bigger size in the hips, and then I had to take the whole dress in like 2 inches on either side because Big 4 always run gigantic on me. I used my coverstitch machine to attach bias binding on the necklines, sleeves, and bottom hem, and it worked beautifully. Some knits want NOTHING to do with the bias binding attachment on the CS, and others sop it up with a spoon! Because of the fabric, the bias binding cinched in the edges just a tiny bit, but I kind of like the effect.
The other thing I like about this dress is the fabric. I had never worked with a Liverpool knit before and I bought this one from LA Finch Fabrics , who stocks a lot of floral and abstract printed ones in gorgeous colors. Liverpool knits are pretty wonderful- the texture is super soft and spongy, but the fabric doesn’t feel heavy and it wears well. Because of it’s cloud-like texture I felt sure it was going to pill and snag easily, but I haven’t noticed anything yet. What I did notice is that the fabric holds smells in a very big way. I try to extend the life of my memades by not laundering them unless they have endured a spill or they smell bad, and I can usually go for several wears between washings with garments like dresses, but this one smelled stinky after just one day of wear. I am assuming it’s because it has some polyester in it; in my experience, polyester fabric tends to get stinkier more quickly than natural fabrics. Anyways, this fabric works up so pretty in a dress and I imagine it would also look stunning in a wrap dress design (also, if you’re headed over to LA Finch online, check out their double polyester knits- I have made leggings and joggers with it and it’s amazing! Softest knit ever, both inside and outside, the elasticity holds up well after days of wear, and the colors have stayed vibrant through so many washings already!)
Man, as I’m writing this blog post, all I want to do is go find a cute knit fabric so that I can sew up a Nettie dress to add to my closet to replace that old one I got rid of. But I’ll wait a bit- my sewing queue is full and I am trying to focus on balancing out sewing with my other artistic endeavors over the summer since my spring/summer wardrobe isn’t lacking for much and I have some writing and other projects that I would really love to dig into. There are so many other things I love to spend my time doing- drawing, woodworking, embroidery, pottery, writing- but sewing tends to take priority over all of them and I find myself wishing I had more time in the day to fit everything else in (although if I’m honest, I would probably just use those extra hours in the day to sew even more, hahaha!) If my home sewing is in part motivated by consuming less and being content with fewer choices that have bigger bang, then I am definitely in danger of my closet overflowing and I don’t want that to happen. #redcarpetDIY is an ongoing project that I am trying to build up, so I can always add more projects to that queue, but as far as having a fun, efficient summer wardrobe is concerned, I AM BASICALLY THERE- I don’t need much more! (Another awesome pro of my recent pattern organization was seeing very clearly how many wardrobe holes I have so I can fill them in without continuing to make more of things that I don’t need).
So, final thoughts on this pattern that everyone else seems to love? It’s just not for me. Which seems to be a trend! And a valuable lesson to learn- I don’t need to jump on the bandwagon just because everyone else is on it. Or, maybe I just need to find a different band wagon that’s headed more in the direction of where I like to go. If I ever find it I’m sure I’ll see a bunch of y’all bouncing around on the back, so save me a seat!
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