Tag Archives: M5974

Me Made May Days 25-31

Musings of a Seamstress

Day 25: Monday

Ahhh…Memorial day, a day off of work.  I wore my newest version of McCall’s 6559, which was made way back in March.  This version used exactly 1 yard of a teal ponte that has been in my stash since 2012. It is a little short than I would normally wear though, so next time I will add about 3″ to the hem.  I believe the fabric was from a mystery bundle from Fabric Mart, so I am estimating the cost to be around $1.50.  I will for sure take that cost for a new dress.  I also wore it with my Butterick 5789 vest.  This is the third time I wore this vest this month and I cannot seem to get enough of it.  I originally made it specifically to be worn with this dress though.

Musings of a Seamstress

Day 26: Tuesday

This is one of my favorite makes from last year, McCall’s 5974!  This fabric is so bright and fun.  It stands completely on it’s own in my wardrobe.  Nothing I own or have made comes anywhere close to the intensity of these colors.  I did also wear the original wearable muslin version of this dress later in the day as well.

Musings of a Seamstress

Day 27: Wednesday

This was an incredibly hard day.  The Thursday before I learned that my oldest and dearest friends’ mom had passed away after a battle with cancer and Wednesday was her funeral.   I have been friends with this person for 24 years now and know her family pretty well.  Her mom was an amazing women who taught me a lot.  The one that I will always remember from when we were younger was when I asked her why she was wearing sunglasses in the winter because I had always associated sunglasses with being for summer only (I don’t know what to say other than I was a weird kid).  She looked at me and laughed and said “Well the sun is still out now, isn’t it”.  She was like a second mom to me often and I will never forget her.  In preparing to go home for the funeral I grieved by stressing about what to wear and decided I had  to make a new dress and cardigan.  I decided to go with my standard McCall’s 5974 from 1.75 yards of black ponte and Butterick 5789 from 2 yards black baby hacci sweater knit.  Both are newly purchased fabrics this month from Jo-Ann’s.

Musings of a Seamstress

Day 28: Thursday

Big surprise, I wore another version of McCall’s 5974!  I think maybe I need to lay off of this pattern for awhile since I have made 8 versions of it.  I don’t know if that will happen though.  It is just such a well fitting and comfortable pattern that it is my go to summer dress.  We’ll see what I make this summer, as I do have a few other patterns picked out.

Musings of a Seamstress

Day 29: Friday

For fear only ever wearing M5974 all week, I choose to wear one of the self drafted skirts I made back during the Adoption Dress project.  This skirt has pockets and a slightly gathered contrast ruffle.  I paired it with a white tank top and wide black belt.  Similar to the McCall’s dress I have about 7 different versions of this skirt as well.

Musings of a Seamstress

Day 30: Saturday

Oldies but goodies for today.   Both the top and the shorts are me made pieces from ages ago.  The top is possibly from 2009 and the shorts are from 2012. The shorts  were way too big in 2012 and not so much anymore, so that kind of sucks.  You know all those awesome “You should be sewing” meme’s Leila keeps making, yeah well, I think I need on that says “You should be running”.

Musings of a Seamstress

Day  31: Sunday

And now we have reached the end of another Me Made May.  Today I wore the self drafted skirt I made back in January/February.  I don’t know what it is about this skirt but I just cannot seem to style it.  I feel like I want to wear one of my wide belts with it but I can’t since I made the waistband wide and ruched.  Also, I just have not liked any of the tops I own with it.  None of the colors go well, except black, and no matter which I choose I feel pretty column like in this look.  I appear to have no shape whatsoever.  I really think it needs a belt.  I don’t know if I will wear this again without changing the waistband.  On a side note, I promise that the hem of this skirt is not angled like the picture makes it look.  I was just standing at an awkward angle, which you can’t even tell because I look like a column.  Ughhh!

M5974 version 6

Musings of a Seamstress

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.

Musings of a Seamstress

 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.

Musings of a Seamstress

 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.

Musings of a Seamstress

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.

Musings of a Seamstress

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.

Musings of a Seamstress

 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.