Sunday, May 20, 2012

New Outfit for PR Weekend: McCall's 6556 Fashion Star

Pattern Review Weekend was LOADS of fun and I did go purple locked. It was absolutely fantastic to see some sewists I've met before like Elizabeth, Cindy and Andrea. And it was great to meet so many new-to-me sewists! More on this later in the week.

For now, I thought you'd like to know what I made to wear for shopping in the Garment district on Friday: McCall's 6556 Fashion Star Dress: 



This dress was ridiculously easy to sew up. It's just two (large) pattern pieces - a front piece and a back piece.  And there is just one seam that requires any fitting whatsoever. 




The pleats look like they could be potentially complicated, but they weren't at all. So, this pattern delivers big style with little fuss.


I made just a few changes (improvements, I think) like I used my serger for the side seams and I made binding for the neck and armhole. I think it's just a neater, cleaner look than just turning under and stitching.



My very not-by-the-book method was to cut some 2 inch strips of left over fabric, fold it in half lenghtwise (wrong sides together) and then serge the raw edges together. Then I cut the allowance off of the neck and armhole and lined up the serged edge with the raw edge. I stitched a 1/2 inch seam, flipped the binding up and pressed (seam allowance toward the dress). Finally, I topstitched with a twin needle.




The full review is here.

Oh and here is the whopping three yards of fabric that I bought.

2 yards of knit burnout from MetroTextiles (photo on a white background so you can see it)
 
One yard-ish (one panel) of cotton from Mood
The cotton with the tulips is really sturdy and destined to become a pencil skirt. Now, here's the thing about working near the Garment District. Earlier on Friday I had decided not to buy $40/yd black guipure lace (Milly) because that is a heck of a lot for me to spend if there is no project in mind and I don't know exactly what kind of yardage I'll need. But now, I'm thinking that if I made this into a pencil skirt, it would need a black lace top to go with it. Right??

13 comments:

Candice said...

Wow! You look great, I'm going to have to order this pattern!

ElleC said...

I love the top on you, it looks great.

That tulip fabric is stunning, will make a gorgeous pencil skirt, can't wait to see it.

Sheryll said...

I'm in love with the tulip print too! And yes of course you need the lace!

Connie B said...

Looks great- then again everything you wore on the weekend looked fabulous! I enjoyed chatting with you on Sat night during dinner!

Anonymous said...

It was so much fun meeting you last weekend, and I do love that dress!
Claudine

Tia Dia said...

RIGHT about the Milly lace now that you've got the perfect fabric to go with it. ;)

Clio said...

It's nice to know I can count on the sewing blogosphere for fabric enabling!

Connie and Claudine - It was GREAT to meet you both!

Lisette M said...

You looked fabulous in this top and I enjoyed meeting and spending time with you.

My husband and I started the tradition of naming our dogs with Greek/Roman mythology. Our first was Echo and our present is Clio =)

Clio said...

LOL - Lisette - it was great to meet you too!

T. Sedai said...

Cute top! It looks awesome, and being easy to sew is always a great bonus.

AlsoI love your fabric picks! And, yes, you totally need a lace top to go with that pencil skirt. It must be awesome to be so close to so many great sources of fabric.

puu said...

i love that top on you, you are wearing it with a lot of panache and those wicked long curls, but i admit i was hoping for some purple lock action. :-)

Andrea said...

It was so good to see you again, and I loved t hat McCall tunic on you. I also loved the purple hair. You really rocked it.

Meg @ Mood Fabrics said...

Fun outfit! And I love seeing what you bought from us.