Sunday, November 4, 2012

McCall's 5974 revisited - Black + ivory polka dot dress

While taking stock of my wardrobe a few weeks ago, I realized I had only 3 dresses with long sleeves. One is my black funeral dress and one is a lace dress I bought for Les Miserables last year. The third is the first dress I made from this pattern, which I still love. (Check out those bangs - oi!) Since I like to wear dresses once or twice a week and enjoy variety, I decided to add to my meager long sleeved dress collection.


I used a border print ITY knit bought online several years ago. It has small dots along one selvage which slowly enlarge in size until they are colliding with each other along the other selvage. I cut the belt out of the very small dots so that it could be seen amongst the busy fabric. ITY knit is perfect for mild Texas winters in that it is very thin so I don't swelter but with long sleeves I still look season appropriate.


I cut this dress out on Friday afternoon, worked on it Friday night, finished it up on Saturday, and wore it to church today! Having made the pattern once before, it went together extremely quick. 


 This is a straight size 8. I am usually a 10 on top and a 12 on bottom, but like to go down a size for garments rendered in highly stretchy fabrics.

I did not care for how far the belt stretched along the side seams on the pattern envelope examples. It looks okay on the bigger busted woman, but kind of strange on the smaller one. I decided to fold out about 2" of the belt height on my pattern piece. I also cut 2.5" off the length of the skirt pattern before I cut out the fabric. No other alterations were necessary.


Special care was taken when cutting out this geometric patterned fabric. I wanted the front bodice necklines to match and not cross any lines of dots. I also wanted equal distance between the dots at the top of the back neckline and all the dots to match up size wise along the side seams and the sleeves. This is always a pain to do but pays off in the end.


I left off the interfacing the pattern calls for along the midriff band. I also omitted the back zipper. Here you can see the band without the belt tied around:


The neckline was finished with Wright's polyester bias tape. Click the tutorials label on the right of my blog for more information on this technique. All the seams were finished with my overlocking foot and the hems sewn with a twin needle.


I love the fit of this pattern and will most likely make it one more time, perhaps with short sleeves for summer.


45 comments:

  1. Such beautiful work on the matching and placement of those dots! Fabulous dress.

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  2. Absolutely gorgeous dress! The extra time taken when laying out and cutting was definitely worth it.

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  3. Beautiful - I love the effect of the dots changing!

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  4. So I still remember your first version of this dress (GORGEOUS) and this one is just as wonderful as your first version. The change in dots are perfect for this dress. You look great in this long-sleeved dress.

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  5. Gorgeous print and dress. Beautiful!

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  6. Oh wow I love love love this dress! You did a fabulous job with a super fabulous fabric! Now I'm going to be dreaming about finding this exact fabric so I can have this dress too - though I don't know that I'd have as much dot-placement patience as you...
    Thanks for the advice about the waist tie on a small bust - I'll keep that in mind when I finally find a big enough piece of fabric to make this pattern (I keep pulling it out and discovering I don't have quite enough of my chosen fabric to actually make it)!

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  7. This is stunning. The painful planning has really paid off. thanks for the link to the tute!

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  8. What a lovely dress. Fits like a glove, you look great!

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  9. oh wow, great dress, great print, great You!! Love it.

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  10. That's a great dress, and I love those colours on you. You are looking gorgeous!

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  11. that looks wonderful! I really love the effect of the fabric print with this style.

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  12. Very pretty dress! I love the polka dots and how they slowly start to expand.

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  13. I love this dress! The first one is one of the reasons I started following your blog :D

    Great work!

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  14. Fabulous dress! really love the fabric and the dress details?

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  15. That's very pretty. I like the red shoes with it-that pop of color.

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  16. Wow, what a beautiful dress, beautifully executed. I'm planning on using the same pattern too. The waist sash is so flattering as well.

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  17. Great dress! You've really maxed out that fabric design!

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  18. Beautiful dress!!! Love how you took your time to mach up the dots on the fabric.

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  19. wow I love it, perfect use of that fabric. I will have to take a second look at that pattern.

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  20. I love this! It looks so stylish and classic. The care you took with the polka dots os very clear around the neckline.

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  21. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, ETC., LOVE. That dress is so flattering on you. I do not have this pattern, and I just checked, its on sale. Mine, Mine, Mine.

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  22. Swooon! The dot placement is perfect - in every way. You look gorgeous in it!

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  23. You know what? I don't have a dress that has long sleeves. I have so many clothes but this spot in my wardrobe somehow has not been filled. Love your dress and the construction is on point!

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  24. I really love that. I really don't have any dresses with long sleeves either, now that I think of it. I am planning on making one or two this fall/winter. I really love the polka dot print.

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  25. Great dress! I love the style and the print is very interesting.

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  26. Your outfits always turn out fab, but the way you used our fabric on this one is amazing!

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  27. What a perfect use of this unique one-way print. The dress looks fantastic!

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  28. I really like the effect of big dots on bottom, shading up to little dots on top. You look so good in black and white! Throw some yellow in with the mix, and you'll never have to wear anything else, lol.

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  29. This is gorgeous! All your time and effort matching up the dots totally pays off-- it looks amazing!

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  30. That dress looks amazing on you and I like the way you paired it with the red shoes. They really pop with that dress.

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  31. I just found your lovely blog and can't wait to explore past posts. Beautiful work!

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  32. I just love that polka dots have such a new way of being polka dots! It's amazing...beautifully done, Amanda! AND that really is a great pattern...I may have to dig it out again!

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  33. Lovely dress! I like that you chose to orient the pattern the way you did, and I love your shoes!

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  34. I love this dress! How/where do you find interesting knits online? I've only been able to find solid colors.

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  35. Wow, this is really beautiful work (as usual!). I have this pattern and really need to make it up as I have a very similar body shape to you. I only hope mine looks half as good as yours!

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  36. I remember this fabric and you used it wonderfully. What a pretty dress you've made!

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  37. gorgeous dress I am loving wrap dresses at the moment.

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  38. This dress is beautiful and I really really love the print. I bet I automatically would have used it the other way up so it was darker at the bottom, but your way looks much more interesting.

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  39. Gorgeous! My fav of all your dresses. you look willowy and chic!

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  40. I can only imagine how tedious your cutting was, but your dot precision was well worth the effort! You've got me thinking I need to pull out this pattern--I want a wrap look without a wind-blow-openable wrap skirt.

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  41. love this looks fabulous, great job

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  42. Polka dots are always a win for me. I love them so much that I would probably wear them if they were on a jacket. I recall having been to a dress boutique out of the country that specialized in polka dot patterned apparel. Was aweeee-someee!

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  43. Beautiful dress. The way you used the pattern makes this dress even more gorgeous. Great job.

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  44. This dress turned out wonderfully with the material you chose. Thanks for sharing!

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