McCalls 6747 - sewing in familiar territory...

Well, I must say this - I am so over my knee-jerk pastel reaction to my gray hair. No more mint. No more pink. No more fluff...

That felt good!

I finished a muslin of the Grainline Studio Farrow Dress this morning, and it, on top of my watercolor floral dress of last week, nearly sent me over the edge.

So moving on and back to what feels more natural for me.

I have so loved the McCalls 6747 maxi pattern - I made 4 versions in cotton jersey a few years ago. And I wore them out.

Time for more, and this first one is a fabric departure for me - I used rayon/lycra jersey instead of cotton jersey (oh, I hope it doesn't pill). And it has a 1/8" stripe. I sure pick some doozies for print matching. Laying this out and cutting it was a beast, my eyeballs felt jittery. But check out that center back seam!

A few sewing notes:

• The fabric is pretty light, and it has 4-way stretch, 60% horizontally and vertically. I used 1/4" twill tape inside the shoulder seam allowance to add some stability. When the seam was sewn, serged, and topstitched down, the tape disappeared completely - no scratchiness going on.

• The stripe is so small that I couldn't use it horizontally for the neck binding. So I decided to use the stripe vertically. I love how it looks - it breaks up the dress a little bit.

• And to balance the binding, and add a little interest to the dress, I used a cuff on the sleeve, also with a vertical stripe.

• I also raised the neckline, about 1 /34" at center front, and 1" at center back, and adjusted the shoulder width to fit. I'm just a little tired of deeply scooped necklines, plus it's fall/winter season. Seems reasonable.

• As in my previous versions, I skipped the front button placket and center back slit.

The whole time I was sewing this, I was thinking that it would be a bust - that it would hug every curve and bump and not work at all. However - it's great! I'm not a 'body-conscious lingerie' person. No Spanx or so on. Here I'm just wearing a midi-length half slip, so that the fabric will glide rather than cling.

Great little dress - love it. 

News flash: David whisked his lovely Elizabeth off to Sedona this past weekend. And they came back engaged! Such joy...

Ciao! Coco