This dress went through quite the transformation from its inception to its final form!
(Also, I know this is my blog and I don’t have to apologize for having many photos, but I want you to know what you are getting into. There are MANY photos ahead!)
Every summer in early July, my husband and I go to Ocean City, NJ with his family. We rent the same beach house (a block and a half from the water!) and try to disconnect for a week or two. It’s pretty amazing.
I usually try to make a summer dress in the week between the end of the school year and the start of the vacation. Here’s what I made last year. Well anyway, this year I wanted to make something really easy without a pattern.
I have seen a lot of tutorials for a shirred bodice created with elastic thread paired with a simple skirt and tie straps. This seemed like the PERFECT project – what could go wrong? (note: if you realized that these photos in fact do NOT feature a shirred dress, then you already know something went wrong. If you are here for the M7778 review, be patient. I promise I will get to it!)
For fabric I opted for a comfy bedsheet from Target. I bought this because it was under 10 bucks for the whole set – fitted sheet, flat sheet, and pillowcases. I have only made a dress from a bedsheet once a million years ago, but this fabric was so darn cute it didn’t give me bedsheet vibes at all! It is light, airy, drapey, summery…it has it all!
I hand-wound my bobbins with elastic thread, adjusted my tension, and got to with the shirring. I shirred, and shirred, and shirred – my gosh, this took a long time. I only did the back panel when I decided to steam it (to shrink the elastic) and see how much stretch I had.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have much stretch at all. I thought it was supposed to shrink to half its size, but I was lucky if I was getting 3/4 the original size. I don’t have a lot of experience shirring, so I know I messed it up somehow.
It was also taking so long (a couple of hours at this point, due to the narrow distance I put between each line) that I lost interest in even making the front shirred panel.
It was time to pivot!
I had this great idea to keep the back shirred and create a more standard fitted bodice for the front. This wasn’t a great idea. If you sew, you know that by doing this there would be even less room for me to get in and out, and would have to add a zipper. I didn’t consider that at this point.
For the bodice front, I opted for McCall’s M7778.
It had the casual vibe I wanted, plus the tie straps.
I made a mock-up of the bodice front and attached it to the shirred panel I created (which at this point also had a long tail that I had intended to be the skirt).
I realized that the bodice pattern was too short, and more importantly, that if I stretched the back enough so that it wasn’t gaping, it was too small for me to fit over my head.
It was time to pivot (again)!
I came to the conclusion that the best plan was to just make the dress in the pattern. I opted for view A with a longer skirt, cut in a size 10. I also lengthened the front and back bodice by 5/8 inch.
It was fairly easy to sew, and I LOVE that the front bodice has a seam down the center. This made it a breeze to create a sharp point at the center of the sweetheart neckline. Since the pattern is quite busy the seam is not very noticeable, but if I was using a different fabric I would definitely want the pattern to match up.
The bodice is also fully lined, which ended up being great for this fabric since it is so thin. I used the same fabric to create the lining and interfaced it for more structure.
If I make this pattern again (which I probably will for the adorable view D!!) I will definitely lengthen the bodice a bit more. Maybe by another 1/2 inch? I really prefer when the waistline hits my natural waist and this was just ever so slightly off.
I will also make a size 8 instead of 10. Why is there SO MUCH EASE in Big 4 patterns? I think the envelope measurements put me at a 12 so I was already sizing down. I had to take out so much fabric when I installed the zipper to make it fit me.
(FYI: My measurements are 34-26-36)
I also started to add cute little woven labels to my handmade clothing! I bought a couple of different styles of Kylie and the Machine labels from Etsy, and I can’t wait to buy more! It makes me smile when I put them on 🙂
These photos were all taken at Barnegat Lighthouse. Dave always talked about how his family would visit it when he was a kid, so I was excited to finally check it out!
When we got there, unfortunately, the whole thing was covered in scaffolding. It wasn’t quite the picturesque scene I was imagining! But I’m sure you can see from the photos that it was still a beautiful location with the moss-covered rocks. I guess we will just have to visit it again sometime!
Dressing With Class 