Before I forget it, here’s the dress from another pattern that I made a couple of weeks ago, McCall’s 6503.

When I read the reviews, I almost didn’t make the thing. One of the young reviewers described it as “baby doll”.

Wha?? Yuck!!

The last look I want to wear is baby doll.

Fortunately I disagreed with her and went ahead with it.  I really like the dress–wearing and sewing it.  It was one of those projects that I was on fire to sew.  I made it very quickly and enjoyed sewing it from start to finish.

The bodice of this one is a bit big, but I can fix that next time.  I almost started right in on a seersucker version, but got sidetracked by a woodworking project.

Now that I’ve got that out of my system, the Scout Woven Tee from Grainline Studio has caught my eye.  I don’t know if I’ll buy the pattern and make that particular one, but I’m thinking of simple woven tops.  I already have patterns…

I’ve been following a discussion on upper chest width on Stitcher’s Guild.  The poster has the exact problem I have of sleeveless garments cutting into the fronts of her shoulders when she raises her arms toward the front.  I’m considering the alteration for Forward Shoulder Joint from Leichty, Pottberg, and Rasband’s fitting tome (I’m actually using the newer edition than the one linked, but I think it’s in this one, too).  I’ll be trying it on my McCall’s 9172 shift pattern.

There’s a sleeve included with the pattern.  I’m thinking that pattern, cut off at hip level with a sleeve inserted would make a good approximation of a woven tee.  If I didn’t want a bust dart, it could certainly be rotated out.

eh?

Times like this I miss Patternmaster Boutique…

Got it!  I traced the pattern, bringing in the shoulders about 1/4″, and down-sizing the back in the process.  I didn’t just narrow the shoulders, I brought them more in to the center of the dress.  They were almost showing bra straps before.  This time, I’m very happy with them.

The fabric is some el-cheapo cotton from Hancock Fabrics this season.  I looked all over town thinking I would find an appealing linen print , but came up empty-handed.  My comfort-level with prints has gone a bit more conservative lately.  I want a cheery print, but not too bold.  This cotton looked about right for my freshly-altered pattern.

Certainly I’ll tweak it for each future iteration, but I’ve found my sleeveless shift pattern!

I just put 5 less-loved dresses in the Goodwill box to make space in my closet.  That’s good because I’ve already sewn another dress–from a different pattern–that I’ll show you when I get a photograph.  My cool summer dress needs may be entirely met for this year.

I’m taking the Tilton sisters’ Craftsy T-shirt class, so I expect to be constructing knit tops next.  Who can say?  Right now I’m thinking of building a pineapple upside down cake.

Yummm.

In my search for the perfect summer dress pattern, I came across a McCall’s pattern that had been hanging around for a while.  It doesn’t even have an “M” on the pattern number.

It’s copyright 1998.  This one:

McCall’s says it’s out of print, but I’ve only had it a year or two. I bought it to replace an old Butterick pattern that I made a couple of times long ago. I still have the old Butterick, but it’s for a smaller woman and altered before I had much of a clue.

Anyway, I found a linen print in my closet and whipped up a version of it.

(If you recognize the print, I’ve used it before…)

And, if you can make any kind of a wearable dress in an hour, I salute you!  This 1 Hour dress took me two afternoons.  I added a lapped zipper, which took more time than the back neckline slit that the pattern offers, plus I ripped the whole thing apart and recut it smaller.

Initially I cut the 14.  Yes, I know that’s not the size I usually sew with, but I was so delighted with my Butterick cardigan that I was able to sew almost straight out of the envelope, that I decided to give it another whirl.

Didn’t work.

It seemed a tiny bit big in the tissue-fit, but it was downright huge in this fabric!  At the end of that first afternoon, I was considering where to donate it.  Overnight I came to my senses.

It only took about an hour to rip the side seams, recut the thing smaller, and resew.  It helped that the pattern has the smaller sizes printed inside one another, rather than overlapping.  (Does that make sense?)

Anyway, I cut the shoulders the width of the 10 and curved out to the 12 by the bottom of the armhole.  (It’s still too long on the shoulders and too wide in back despite my recutting and adding some back darts.)

But I like it!