I started on this wrap dress this week. The pattern says "Easy", but I haven't sewn in at least 7 years, so we'll see.
I chose a patterned cotton. (See below.) The patterns suggest medium weight woven material, but that kind of material is hard to find in fabric stores these days, so I bought a light weight cotton blend. I'll add a horsehair braid to the hem to try to make up for the lightness of the fabric.
I cut out the fabric last night and then tonight I did the bodice. I'm slow, but it's looking pretty nice. I started to get tired and misread the instructions, so I quit at about 10:30.
Seams ripped today: 3 (hey - pretty good for being rusty AND tired!)
July 8, 2014
Sleeves are the devil. Surely, they will be my arch-nemesis throughout my sewing "career". I almost made this dress sleeveless after I had to rip out the basting more than a couple of times for the first sleeve. The second sleeve went a bit smoother, but all-in-all it took one hour per sleeve. Oi vey. Now the dress has to hang for 24 hours to let the bias settle before putting the bias tape all around the dress. Also, I will have to alter the sleeves at the very end because they are so tight that they are painful. :(
Seams ripped: 5 *sigh*
July 14, 2014
I actually started stitching the bias tape (a nice, dark rose pink) on last week, but I forgot to update here. I got about 3/4 around the edges when I ran out of the bias tape. The pattern called for 7 1/4 yards of bias tape, but I had bought 9 yards and it still wasn't enough, so finishing up the bias tape was pushed back to a time when I could find another pack to buy.
I found that pack this weekend and so I finished putting the bias tape on tonight. Just as the directions said, I hand sewed the bottom corners of the dress, so that the miters of the corners would look nice.
Lastly, I cut off the sleeves of the dress entirely and cut the arm holes bigger. I have wide shoulders and thick arms, so I needed to alter it. I don't like sleeves on dresses anyway, so off they went. I added bias tape around the arm holes and now it is all done! Looks cute!
Seams ripped: none!
July 17, 2014
Finally got back to this dress and did the very final thing, which was to hand sew the inside ribbon tie to the right inside seam. Somehow I had managed to try the dress on twice with a pin holding it in and didn't stick myself at all, but when I picked it up to pack the dress (having forgotten about sewing on the ribbon), it poked me good. Haha! So this dress is finished and while it is small, if I wear a cami under it, it should be alright. :)
Final Comments:
Overall, I think this dress was a good re-introduction to sewing. The pattern is very easy (except for the devilish sleeves!) and flattering.
Some things I might address with McCall's:
1) Their sizing is way way way small. I erred on the larger side when cutting the pattern, but in the end, it turned out small. I chose the size according to the measurements listed on the pattern, so I don't think I'm the only one who would find the sizing to be small. I'm lucky this was a wrap dress that allowed me to still be able to wear it, even though I'll need to buy a camisole to go under it to provide better coverage of cleavage.
2) They listed only 7 1/4 yards for bias tape, but the dress actually required 11 yards in the end. I had to go to a store and find more bias tape. Not the worst thing, but it was inconvenient and took time.
Here's the breakdown of time and money for this dress:
Time:
Cutting out fabric: 2.5 hrs
Sewing bodice piece: 2.5 hrs
Attaching sleeves: 2 hrs
Sewing skirt and attaching bodice: 1 hr11
Adding bias tape: 2 hrs
Altering sleeves: 1 hr
Total Hours: 11 hours
Cost:
Pattern: $5.76 (on sale!)
Fabric: $22.02 (on sale!)
Notions: $14.10 (most things on sale)
Total Cost: $41.88
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