Well, it’s official I’m addicted to this style of sewing. I love the capsules and they are similar to Emily Hallman’s “collection” sewing she does on instagram and her blog. It’s kind of a genius way of sewing for more than one reason. Not only am I more likely to wear the pieces because they have coordinates but I don’t have to change my serger thread as often. It’s batch sewing the same colors and the dreaded thread change isn’t a factor in starting a new garment.
The first piece in this wardrobe series is a new McCall’s pattern M8192. I was drawn to the ruffles in view C. Once I pulled out the pieces I realized view C was the same length as view B and I couldn’t picture that length on me so I added 10 inches to get it to a maxi length. That was my only adjustment to the pattern until the very end.
I had intended on making this dress on Mother’s Day, the whole dress. It did not happen. Since the fabric essentially has a stripe and I wanted the ruffles to catch a particular part of the fabric I spent a long time just cutting out the fabric. The dress actually took me a week because it was far fussier than I anticipated. Once the dress was done, except for the hand sewing of the back facing, I tried the dress on to realize although it hung exactly as advertised on the pattern that created a gap in the back. The gap in the back made it so anyone walking near me would see clear down my dress. I solved this by added elastic on the seam on the sides. It cinched in the sides to both give the dress a little more shape and solve the privacy issue.
If I made this dress again I’d likely size down at least one size and I’d make a couple other tweaks, like putting elastic through the sides and back.
It was a fun make, I’d never added ruffles to a bodice like this before and I wanted to try it.
I’m happy with the end result and think it’s stunning, especially the back!
Sew Sanity 