McCall's: 6280 (misses dress) - Type:Dresses  | | Viewed 191 times
| | Review rated Very Helpful by 1 people | | Reviewed by: | ChristmasHills | 
 | About ChristmasHills | | NA AUSTRALIA | | Member since: 1/27/10 | | Reviews written: 16 | | Sewing skills:Intermediate | | Favored by: 3 people | | patterns reviewed: 16 | | Bio: more... |
| | Posted on: | 1/27/13 1:38 AM | | Last Updated: | 1/27/13 2:43 AM | | Project Photo: |  | | Pattern Photo: | 
McCall's Pattern Info | | Pattern Rating: | Easy & Great for Beginners | | See other patterns in this category: Easy to Sew Dresses | | | | Fabric: | Linen [See other projects in this fabric] | | Related Links | Click on  to add a link |
| Pattern Description: From the envelope back "Semi-fitted, A-line, above mid-knee, pullover dresses, some views have seam detail, pocket, drape, topstitching and narrow hem." The pattern description goes on to add a little more about the individual differences between the three views. These are cosmetic only. It's a strange little hybrid of a dress. Half the dress is princess seamed the other half not. One side has a collar, the other not. I think someone was having a go at colour blocking and it didn't quite work. I like all the lines apparent in the drawing of View A, although with my patterned fabric they are not that evident even though I tried to highlight them with pink thread.
Pattern Sizing: Misses Sizes 8-10-12-14 in the one envelope. There is a separate envelope as well which contains 16-18-20-22. I cut a 12 to just below the armholes then graded out to 14 at the hips. The sizing was accurate though the dress is very loose fitting if sewn as drafted, which was exactly what I was after.
Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Basically yes.
Were the instructions easy to follow? Very easy dress, though time consuming and somewhat fiddly if you apply all the trims, collar and drape. The instruction for stay stitching the neck doesn't occur until number 38. By that time the dress has already had quite a lot of handling and it would be a little late for the stay stitching. I stay stitched first, which is what I was taught many years ago. I didn't use the drape or the collar for my version, but adding all the trim took quite a chunk of time. The trim is meant to be cut as strips from the main fabric. I used bought bias binding. I think a beginner could easily tackle this pattern as the end result is not over fitted and there are quite a lot of techniques you could choose to practice on a forgiving dress.
What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I liked that this was a simple dress for woven fabrics, rather than knits. I find woven fabrics cooler than knits in the summer and I don't like having anything tight around my waist. Usually I buy patterns based on reviews I have read but this one somehow ended up in a parcel from the US. I really liked the sneaky pocket half way down the dress as it was very easy to do and a dress with a pocket is a must for me. My only regret is that it is on the left side and I would prefer it on the right. If I make it again I will move it to the right side. The dress is a pullover and slips easily over my head but I decided to try putting in a pink exposed zipper just for fun. Well it wasn't much fun and I made a bit of a hash of it but it will have to do. I just may use that pocket idea again as it is very easy and a bit different to the norm.
The neckline and the sleeves are finished with self made bias, cut to 2 inches wide, doubled and stitched right side to right side, then turned to the inside of the dress and top stitched. I really like the method when used with a heavier fabric such as linen. For a cotton dress I would probably make single layer facings.
I enjoyed the top stitching. I am fortunate to have a separate machine which I could set up with two spools of pink thread through the needle to top stitch, without having to re-thread the main stitching machine all the time. Without that the dress would have taken much longer.
Fabric Used: Beautiful piece of linen I bought on sale at one of the stores in Sydney which sell designer rolls at the end of season. I only had 2 metres (2 ½ yards) of fabric and the dress called for 2.3 metres, but I decided to go ahead anyway and it was squeezed out of the 2 metres - just. I was even able to lengthen it by 10cm (4 inches) as I am very tall. I had to piece together the bands for the neck and armhole facings though and I didn't use the self made "bands", as they called them, for the trim so I saved on fabric there. In the end I removed half of the extra I added at the hem. As well I used up some pink bias binding I have had forever and a substantial chunk of some pink pre-made very narrow piping which I bought at some stage because I am a sucker for anything pink on sale.
Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: Well I didn’t want to use the added collar or the drape. In fact I can see no reason for that drape half way down the dress - it is just a bit of extra work to no advantage. I wanted everything the one colour with added highlights of pink. So basically I used a hybrid of View A and C.
Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? I just may sew it again, it is a very comfortable loose dress for those hot humid days of summer where the mercury consistently hits over 40 degrees and the humidity is almost unbearable. If I make it again I will make View A, which is basically all one colour, but once again I would omit the collar and the drape. You could even use this pattern as either a princess line by cutting everything double and ignoring the other half of the pattern which contains a dart for shaping, or of course the other way around.
Conclusion A simple shift dress with some extra design features. If you already own a shift dress pattern I wouldn't bother with this one. I didn't but now I have two for the price of one, princess seamed and darted. The dress is roomy as suits a summer dress. I like it and think it will fill a hole in my wardrobe.
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3 Comments
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This looks great on you and I especially like the finishing details, zips, topstitching & trims. A lovely dress!
1/27/13 7:15 AM
I'm so glad to see a thorough review of this- I've been plotting and circling this pattern, but wanted a little insight. I think you may see a duplicate soon!
1/27/13 8:01 AM
The fabric is very lovely and I like your zippy little summer dress. Sounds great for high humidity days. I saw recently an exposed zipper tutorial but I can't remember where. Wish I had bookmarked it. If I come across it again, I will try to remember to post the link here.
1/29/13 1:47 PM