Flower Power McCall's 6886 - a toile (x 2)

Ever on the quest to find the "perfect dress pattern" for myself I was quite taken by Kirsten's striped version of McCalls 6886. I wasn't quite sure if the pattern (found here) would work for me as it was a bit more snug at the waist than I'd normally wear - but once I had the idea in my head I couldn't get past it.

The dress I'm wearing isn't my original toile (which I had made in the exact same fabric from My Hung in Parramatta) as my overlocker ate the sleeves when I was trying to take them in a bit. The sleeves are VERY wide (I made the size 24 based on my measurements) so I wanted them to be more slim as they made the dress look too big and frumpy as they were drafted - my overlocker had other ideas. The blade refused to cut the material and the whole thing ended up a great big mess. Luckily My Hung still has this fabric in-store so I bought a bit more and tried again.

I've sewn View C with the long sleeves and higher neckline (though I did drop the front a little bit as choking on my necklines isn't my thing at all).  The shoulders are not quite sitting where I think they should and they look a bit like "dropped sleeves" - I could fix this but I don't think it's too bad (and to be honest I'm not sure how to fix it without stuffing things up on future makes so I'll let dropped shoulders drop).

I did make a few other changes to the pattern - namely I added a neckband as the "turn over and stitch down" method never works for me...I just cannot get things to sit nicely. I also removed 1.5cm from the shoulder height and sewed the shoulder seams with my overlocker (using clear elastic to stabilize the seams) rather than using my sewing machine with a 1.5cm seam allowance (that just seems wrong on knits to me). I took the sleeves up by 1.5" and in at the wrists by 1cm on each side (tapering up to nothing under the arms). The sleeves are still a bit too wide at the wrists so I might slim them down a smidge more on my next make.

I really like the finished dress - in fact I'm wearing it to work today. My only niggle is that the neckband is not sitting as flat against the back of my neck as I would like. I did have to attach the neckband twice as the first time it was just too big (why! the neckband on my botched toile was so so perfect)!

I really like this dress and would like to find some nice fabric to make another one for winter - and of course I have ideas for summer versions of this too. I did start to sew another one at home but the fabric is not stretchy enough so it's not very comfy. Sigh.

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Pattern: McCall's 6886

Size: 24, View C with the long sleeves and higher neckline
Modifications: (see above)
Fabric: 20% Polyester/78% Rayon/2% Spandex from My Hung in Parramatta
Changes for next time: none.