The Swirls and Stripes Dress

The basting! The endless, endless basting!

This is McCall’s 6754 in a cotton/lycra knit from Girl Charlee.

In order to match up all these stripes in all the crazy ways, I had to baste, check, rip, baste, check, rip, baste, check, rip, etc. And, because it’s me, some of the stripes only sort of match up.

Plus, the pattern has a LOT of ease. I should have made a size smaller than my measurements indicated. As it is, I had to sew the CF, CB, raglan, and princess seams at something like 3/4″ and the side seams at 1″.

I am really surprised at how much I love this dress! It’s a little overwhelming with all the stripes, but it’s so fun! And the skirt–so full and lovely.

Kitty snorgles test: PASS

One thing I would change were I to make this pattern again would be to bind the neckline rather than turn it under. Also, I would raise it about 1/2″. It’s not too terribly low, but I’d like to play it a little safer if I’m going to wear it to work.

Twirl test: PASS

If you’re not matching stripes and if you get the sizing right, sewing this up would be very easy. However, if you’ve never sewn with knits before, I would not recommend this be your first pattern to try. I’m not a fan of the directions; I did my own thing. For instance, rather than do an elastic casing at the waist, I simply sewed clear elastic to the bottom edge of the bodice front and back. It works beautifully and was very simple.

However, I do have some sad news. I wore this dress once with a white cardi and belt and when I got home discovered that the blue had bled into the white stripes and onto my cardi particularly at the underarms (was I super sweaty that day? I don’t remember being very warm. . . ). I had prewashed the fabric and I have since washed the dress and cardi twice with no luck (I didn’t put them in the dryer–that would be madness!). I have one last trick I’m going to try. On the dress, it’s not super noticeable, but I’m afraid the cardi will need to be retired 😦