M5974 version 6

I have a new dress to share!  Let me start by saying I love it!!  It is by far the loudest print I have ever used.  It is my sixth version of McCall’s 5974.  I really do have a deep love for this pattern.  It really is the perfect knit dress.  The fit is phenomenal!  The silhouette works really well for my body type.

For this version I used 2 yards of a semi lightweight knit from Jo-Ann’s that has been in my stash for a year now.  I debated whether or not it needed a lining because it was not quite thin enough but in the end I decided I would rather put it in and know I felt comfortable over not putting it in and possibly wishing I had. For the lining I used 2 yards of white cotton knit from Fabric Mart that has also been in the stash for a year.  Woohoo for stashbusting.

 After wearing it all day it did get a little baggy in the back.  Since I did not pre-wash my cottons I have confidence that it will shrink back down.  I actually got a few compliments on how well the back fits by some coworkers.  Of course this was before it got baggy.

 This dress doesn’t have a lot of circle spin like the ones I make at work, but it is still fun to spin in.

I did also take a bending over shot, but I didn’t like the way it turned out. The dress does gap a bit in the chest when bending over, but for now I am going to say it is because the dress stretched out a bit after wearing it all day at work.  We will see what happens after I wash it.

I do the belt differently than the instructions say.  The instructions do it to were the seams are all on the inside of the belt and include a bit of hand stitching.  That takes a good chunk of time and I am okay with my seams showing on the inside of my dress.  I straight stitched my bodice to they belt and to the skirt. Then I serged each of those seams to finish it off.  I think this works just as well as the way the instructions indicate.

Instead of doing a narrow hem, I just serged my lining to my shell and turned and stitched it.  It worked out much easier to do it this way than the narrow hem.  I think with the shell and the lining a narrow hem would have been too bulky.

 I decided I wanted to try a rolled hem for this version, something a little different than the other five I have previously made.  I made sure to make my lining an inch shorter than my shell so I don’t run the risk of it hanging out.  I think my serger’s rolled hem function worked quite nicely for this dress.

Seriously, if you have not made this dress yet, you really really need to!! What are you waiting for?  Go to your stash, find a great knit, and cut it out this weekend.  It is a quick and easy make.