McCalls dress 6891

Reviewed by UttaRetch on 15th May, 2016

This dress was for an online competition and I had a month in which to make it. I finished only just in time because I am the world’s slowest dressmaker and tend to become despondent when problems arise.

The fabric came from a Goldhawk Road shop and is probably a polycotton. It is perhaps a little too soft for this dress and a cotton sateen would work better.

This pattern is far from straightforward owning to the complexity of sewing the collar – I had never done a notched collar before – and the tedious and fiddly business of sewing the sleeves and cuffs. I read the instructions for this and decided I was not going to bother and made improvised turn back cuffs. The pattern has in seam pockets, but I ‘fused’ the pocket piece to the side skirt section and then ‘cut as one’. I prefer this method. The fit is not as close as I wanted and I should perhaps have gone down a size.

The dress is okay and at least wearable, but I think there are better shirt dress patterns out there.