The Green Flowered M6553 that Could

Hello from California! I've just finished up a wonderful week in Los Angeles visiting my brother and to soak up some much needed vitamin D! and of course I brought as many Me-Mades as possible to showcase in the sunny weather!

I planned this trip a few months ago to celebrate my 25th birthday (champagne birthday all!!), but after the unexpected passing of my father at the beginning of the month, this trip became a time to be closer to my brother during a difficult time, to remove me from the emotional stress of home, and to help start the healing process. 

This is the pretty version of M6553 that I made the test garment for in my last post. but this one has much more beautiful fabric. I added some dimension to this version to help break up the print by using a solid charmeuse in the same green colour on the back yoke. The fabrics were the exact same except in a solid. Horray for easy matching! And I used a plain 9mm silver button on the yoke. 

You'd think that this would be an easy make since I finished the test garment only one day before, but alas, life does not continue without encountering a sewing quibble every once in awhile. And a perfect second make would just be too predictable now wouldn't it?

This fabric is the love and Bain of my existence. It is a satin charmeuse. Betcha didn't guess that by the look of it eh? Well, this fabric pattern is my favourite! It is actually a greenish-yellow hue (green=Love) and has the large floral in muted tones (adore)! So it Did seem like the perfect fabric. But it was shiny; bad-middle-school-prom shiny. ew. I don't do shiny. I can't. but the pattern and colours were so perfect. I needed it. I turned the shiny away and immediately realized the back side had the same pattern but with a matte appearance. perrrrrrfect. I like matte. And this also means the slippery side is against my skin. Mmmmm soft!

But like I said, this is satin charmeuse, and as it turns out, my serger has a huge appetite for charmeuse (om Nom Nom Nom says Mr.Serger). And this fabric did not want to do as told (And I spoke real firmly to it), it was slippery and went all nimbly bimbly on me. I had to strong arm it a lot to combat the liquid fabric qualities and my hungry serger. But I made it! Phew!

It is interesting to see the difference that fabric makes to the fit and appearance of a dress. My original is heavier and holds its shape well. This one has a fluid drape and lays flatter. Except for when the wind blows. This baby has some serious flow folks! I'm thankful for the modesty the hi-lo hem provides during the gusty weather a top the mountains in Joshua Tree National Park! I was flashing people left and right! I'm a real class act my friends ;)

The other thing I noticed with this version, as the fabric has no stretch, is that the arm scythe is much tighter and pulled at my armpit. I tried to remedy this by serging 1/2" out at the under arm. It helped alleviate some of the stress, but next time I'll know to deepen them to make room for my chubby armpits (serious issue folks! Haha).

And finally, due to the lightweight fabric, the pockets are rendered somewhat useless as just putting my phone in one pocket pulls the entire dress towards the weight in said pocket. I don't like the look; as if my flowy dress is being restrained. Flow free floral M6553 stallion! Flow free!

But alas, the time has come to say farewell. I've had a wonderful week in California with my brother and I look forward to returning in the future!

Details

Pattern: M6553

Size: 6

Fabric: Green Floral Satin Charmeuse

Cost: $12

Alterations: 

• lowered the arm scythe by 1/2"

All photos were taken in Joshua Tree National Park. Beautiful place! My dress appears camouflaged to the scenery which I kind of love!

Read More »

McCalls M6553

When I saw the technical drawing of this pattern I didn't think much of it. But as soon as I saw it made up I fell in love with it. This is M6553 and it is beautiful.

I wanted an easy flow dress. It had to have some structure to prevent the moo-moo look. This dress style fits the bill exactly. The pattern envelope description is: Very loose-fitting, pullover dress has princess seams, self-lined yoke back, side openings for self belt, back pleats/ neck slit with button/thread loop closing, and shaped hemline. Exactly what I needed; shaped front while having a flowing back. 

Surprisingly, I did no alterations to the length of the pattern. For me it turned out the perfect length; hitting at my preferred height in the front 3" above my knee and the back hem 2" below my knee. I only double turned the hem and sewed so only reducing the original length by 1/2" - a very tiny hem.

This dress is included in my Project Sew LA. But before using my beautiful fabric I wanted to make a test garment to check the sizing. I used a green suiting fabric. As per usual, the sizing of this pattern is ridiculous as it says the finished measurement for size 6 (the smallest size) has a 42" bust. Really McCalls? The smallest size is 42" bust? I decided since I'm a 42" bust I needed to make the size 6. It fits me exactly as I wanted it to fit. Because of this, Making this pattern for anybody with a smaller bust will most likely result in a significantly baggy looking dress. 

Also like every great dress it has pockets! Pockets make every dress THAT much better. They are in-seam and they were drafted at the correct height. The tie is what really makes this dress. It cinches the front of the dress and slips through two side openings and wraps around the back inside the dress, thus allowing the back to flow free. To help the dress slip over my head I attached one sew-on snap at the back neck. It is hidden from view on the back as I only sewed it to back facing.

And after this test garment I know that I absolutely adore this dress. It fits almost perfectly, and I have already started to make it out of my fashion fabric! Project Sew LA I will complete you!

Details

Pattern: M6553

Size: 6

Fabric: Green Polyester Suiting

Cost: $8.50

Alterations: None

This dress has some incredible flow my friends. So much flow that when I went for my favourite jump shot the dress flowed right on up and almost made me indecent. That hem is about 1cm from showing my lady bits off, but because it shows nothing but leg, I wanted to share the photo because it is hilarious. My necklace came upside and the photo snapped at an opportune moment - to make it look like I have a silver mustache! What A Beauty!

Read More »

Project Sew L.A.

At the end of March I am flying to Los Angeles to visit my brother and to celebrate my Champagne birthday! I'm turning 25 on the 25th! Big quarter century!

In lieu of this, I decided that I should commence Project Sew L.A. where I sew three garments in the next three weeks for me to sport while I am in The City of Angels. Since Canada is still suffering the frigid cold, and L.A. is shining bright, I needed some summery sewing to get me through the next three weeks until I can be with that sun myself!

So here is what's on the docket for the coming weeks:

A little bit of pink and flowy. For all my casual beach wandering I'll be doing

A touch of green with flowers for some bright fun times. Walking the streets of LA, tied in the front, flowy in the back.

And for my champagne birthday I shall wear this black and silver crop top dress. It is from designers Talbot Runof. Since I don't do floor length gowns, I'll make it short and cupcake like. Yay. I'll just have to make sure the crop top is short enough to showcase the cinched waist so I don't look huge.

These are the plans for Sew LA. I'll let you know how they all go.

Read More »