Seams fit for a Princess, McCall's 7717
It’s Sunday, it is sunny, and 68 degrees outside, which means it was the perfect time to finally get photos for this blog post. Now let’s talk about this new dress pattern I picked up last month. First, let me remind you that I am trying to (1) burn through my current fabric stash and (2) do more woven fabric projects. Don’t get me wrong knit dresses are great but my business casual dresses are usually woven, and that’s truly my preference for work attire. However, I really hate doing full bust adjustments (FBA), and I always have to do it. I know, I know, I should just suck it up and do the FBA, but yep, I just stay away from those type of projects altogether. I plan on doing better this summer though.
The reason I picked up McCall’s 7717 is because it is a princess seam dress pattern, I figured it had to be easier to modify this than a pattern with regular bust darts. Wrong! Absolutely wrong. After making several fit adjustments, I realized in the future I will have to do a full bust adjustment for this pattern as well. In fact, this dress almost did not make it. I actually threw it in the fabric trash can (I have a separate trash bag for fabric) because I had gotten so frustrated. After having dinner with a friend I went back home, feeling a bit more confident, I pulled it out the trash to finish. Additionally, I hate the fact that the pattern calls for a full dress lining. I spent 30 minutes trying to figure out how to get around that before giving in and doing the lining.
Moving on to the pattern review and construction details. I cut View A bodice but used View C sleeves. I cut the size ten based on the finished hip measurements printed on the pattern. After the bodice was sewn together, I had a lot of gaping above the bust area, so I took in the princess seams in the bust area. The one thing I disliked about this pattern was the amount of easement it required. You have to ease the front skirt piece before attaching it to the midriff piece, which led to puckering. No matter how many times I tried, I ended up with puckers in that area. I also had to do quite a bit of easement for the sleeve, which caused puckering in the sleeve caps.
I didn’t like the finished length of the dress based on the instructions. It would have been extremely short if I would have followed the instructions. I decided to finish the hem of the dress and lining with a four-thread overlock stitch, I turned the main piece hem up 5/8”, tucked the lining into the main dress hem, and did a slip stitch around the entire hem. Overall I am pleased with the outcome, but I have a few things I need to improve on. I want to do the dress again with View A sleeve, so you will probably see this dress again in the fall.
