I am a subscriber to the vlogs produced by Sian of Kittenish Behaviour. Sometime ago Sian raved about this pattern which I purchased on her recommendation. The pattern has been sitting in my stash awaiting fabric inspiration and today that inspiration arrived.
McCalls K6754 Line drawing
The 3 metres of pretty Dusky Blue printed Ponte was purchased from the Textile Centre back in the Spring. Having checked the measurements on the pattern envelope I dived straight in and cut View D in a size XXL. I extended the skirt length by 4 inches and reduced the sleeves by 3 inches. It turned out that the skirt length was just right but the sleeves were now ¾ length – but that’s OK. When I make the dress again, I will simply let down the tuck if I want long sleeves.
I took very little notice of the layout and instructions other than to set the bodice panels on the bias grain. Only later did I realise that this was for if you were making a garment with stripes- in my case it was not necessary! There is a background of sketchy lines in the print and it has worked out well on this occasion.
As overlocked seams are very difficult to unpick, I decided to stitch on my sewing machine using the ‘lightning’ stitch at stitch length 3. I set up so that all the seams would be at the standard 1.5cms and constructed the dress according to the instructions. At first fitting I was concerned that the neckline was coming out quite low, the sleeves were wide and the front waistline was approximately 2 inches too high (I had not done a full bust adjustment!). There are a couple of occasions where I did my own thing. I do not like necklines where you turn the fabric to the wrong side and then stitch down. I much prefer a neckband. I cut a 2 inch wide strip from the width of the fabric and used my TNT method to apply. This brought the neckline up to a more comfortable level but next time I will trace the pattern and raise it by 1 inch.
Close up of Bodice showing Neck band & bias cut of background lines
The front bodice will also need to be adjusted although at present the weight of the skirt is helping to keep it nearer to my natural waist. The back waistline is about 1 inch too low as I had made no adjustment for my sway back! This will be corrected when I trace off the pattern.
For the hems on the sleeves and the (very) full skirt I used a new procedure as demonstrated recently on The Sewing Quarter. Using a long basting stitch I sewed a guideline for where the fabric should be turned. This took away the need for masses of pins as the fabric naturally turns on the stitching line. I set the twin needle and by checking the location of the raw edge by feeling with my finger, I was able to stitch from the right side so that the edge was enclosed in the zig-zag stitches on the reverse.
At final fitting I was still a little unhappy about the bagginess of the upper sleeves. I therefore unpicked the underarm seam and re-stitched, taking in a total of 1 ¼ inches from the upper bodice seam and upper part of the sleeve seam, grading to nothing about 2 inches from the sleeve hem.
McCalls K6754 in Blue Ponte Roma
I am happy with the dress and will definitely be making it again. Next time I will remove the centre back and centre front seams on the bodice, cut on the straight grain, adjust the lengths as required, slim down the sleeves and keep the additional length on the skirt. Depending on fabric availability I may have to use a different skirt pattern as a full circle is very fabric hungry. I think I may have sufficient of the Sunset Roses Ponte in my stash to make version 2 or perhaps the Grey snakeskin print that I bought at the NEC in March. Watch this space!