McCalls 6891 - The Grinder Dress

You know when you are totally engrossed by your sewing project, so much so that you become obsessed, unable to sleep because you are thinking about cutting layouts or buttons?  And where you think about it at work because you just can't stop thinking about it?  Well, that was NOT the case with this dress. I probably started this dress over six weeks ago.  It is linen (of course), and it is a shirtdress (of course).  But inspiration was totally lacking, and I just managed to finish this one by grinding it out.  So I'm calling this the Grinder Dress.

It started out innocently enough.  McCalls released this pattern this spring, number M6891, and it looked sorta easy:

If you look closely, you can see that there is a one-piece collar (no separate stand), no waistband (although there is a waist for easier fitting), no front bands, and only six darts; if you make the sleeveless version (the blue dress in the upper left corner), it should be easy-peasy.  Right?


Blog reader Rachel emailed me back in March, asking me for a recommendation for a shirtdress pattern, as she was planning on making her very first shirtdress, and I recommended this one. (I regret that now, and Rachel, if you are still reading, I am REALLY, REALLY SORRY!  Go make the Colette Hawthorn instead - not only is it easier but there is a sew-along that will help tremendously.)

Still thinking this would be quick 'n easy, I decided to use the wonderful periwinkle linen I got at Mood in December:

So how did it go wrong?  Well, as I was working with the fabric, I decided at some point that this linen was probably a little too light for a dress - it is more blouse weight.  So it wrinkled even worse than what linen is supposed to wrinkle.  It wrinkled just lying on the ironing board.  That isn't the pattern's fault, however, but given that I had already cut it out, I just continued muddling through.  I ground it out.

No, the problem was the collar/front/facing pattern pieces.  So many symbols:  squares, circles, triangles, dots, lines - you get the drift.  The construction technique of this collar was previously unknown to me, and I had a frustrating time trying to figure out how the whole sha-bang went together.   I can't imagine a beginner trying it.  
A sleeveless shirtdress shouldn't be this confusing/difficult.  I finally managed to get it together, and then it sat for several weeks, needing buttonholes, buttons, and hemming.  I procrastinated on all fronts because I knew the hem was going to be a huge PITA and I was right.  The skirt of this thing is a half circle skirt, so it is on the bias at the sides.  Combined with this fabric being a lightweight loose weave linen, I had serious side stretch.  My attempts to put in an even hem were unsuccessful.

So it hung on a hanger for even more weekends, sucking my quality sewing time because I have this completion complex:  I can't work on another project until my current one is done.

Last Saturday, to save my sanity and my hobby, I finally decided to throw money at the problem:  I took this dress to the woman who hemmed my wedding dress and begged her to hem it for me.  Despite her look of horror (she knows bias stretch when she sees it), she only said in her Bulgarian accent, "Next Saturday."

I skipped out of the shop before she changed her mind.  This past Saturday, I picked it up and happily paid her for her trouble.  I wore it to Mass this morning and got the Carpenter to take a photograph before we left and the winkling began:



She did a great job and the twenty bucks I paid her was worth every penny - not just so this dress got done, but because once I subcontracted out the hem, the floodgates of creativity and sewing came pouring out of me and I finished three, count them, three projects since the day I left this dress with her, plus I did a muslin (gasp!) for a project I HAVE become obsessed with. 

Otherwise, there isn't much to say about this dress; I made a size 12.  I added 3/4 inch to the hem for some unknown reason.  I added 1/4 inch to the front side seams of the bodice and skirt, just to make sure the waist was big enough, and I sewed the waist seam just a little less than 5/8 inch just to make extra-super-duper sure there was plenty of room in the waist.  The color is wonderful, and I enjoyed wearing it today, complete with the Gertie-slip I finished Friday night.

So ultimately, what was the problem?  I think I was just bored.  This isn't what I really wanted to be sewing.  (Plus that collar thing really was objectively insane.)

So I'm on to new projects that I keep researching, and compulsively buying supplies, and I'm in the grip of happy obsession.  Fortunately, the Carpenter is tolerant - I haven't been this sewing-crazed since the Tippi Hedren suit!

More to come . . .

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McCalls 6696 - Take 2

As you can tell from the Gabriola skirt, I'm obsessed with linen.  While it wrinkles in the wearing, it is a pleasure to sew and wear - it takes high heat steaming/pressing well, and drinks in topstitching beautifully.  Fabrics-store.com was having one of their "get one yard of linen for free" sales so I bought three yards of their color "Meadow" and made another McCalls 6696 shirtdress, this time view "D" with the more narrow skirt with pockets:

I had been waiting to make this version since I saw Handmade Jane's denim dress.  Here's my version:

(Not thrilled about the slightly uneven hemline at the front.)  Here's a closer shot:  I made the cuffs as drafted which The Carpenter described as "Star Trek":

 I've made this dress before, with the pleated skirt, in a quilting cotton, but I don't remember the back being quite this blousy before.  The linen really accentuated the blousy-factor:

 Next time, I will definitely remove some of the width in the back pattern piece to cut down on this poofiness in the back.  It's a little ridiculous.  

In addition to sewing view D this time instead of view B, I used the "C" cup front pattern piece because I felt like last dress I made was a little short in the front, and this might be due to the fact that I needed a larger cup size:

In the end, I don't think I need the "C" cup - I think this dress has a tendency to pull to the back at the shoulders and neck area, causing the front waist to rise up and I don't know why.  I don't know if it is how the dress is drafted, or if there is some alteration that I need to make that I don't know about:

Other than that, I cut and sewed a size 12.  I found, though, that the skirt was a little bit tight, so I let it out as much as I could in the hips, given that I had already trimmed the side seams and finished them with an overlock stitch, so there wasn't much I could let out. It fits, but I want to remember to add a little extra in the hips next time.

I added 1 inch to length, and hemmed with my favorite method, which is using a strip of fabric cut on the bias and then folded in half like french binding.   It gives a nice clean hem, and is an easy way to provide length.  This time, unlike my last version, I remembered to lengthen the front bands so I didn't have to piece them:

 While I had this dress done for ages, it took me awhile to get the buttons on it; all that topstitching and pressing of this wonderful linen ended up being a goodly amount of work, and I really didn't want to put plastic buttons on this dress.  So I splurged for real pearl shell buttons I got at Chadwick Heirlooms:

They weren't cheap - these 10 buttons cost me about $ 18.00.  I can definitely say that when I wear this dress out, I'll be saving the buttons for another project!

 Just like my last version, I added an enormous amount of topstitching that the pattern didn't call for.  As I said above, linen just drinks in topstitching.  It makes for a lovely finish, and helps with subsequent pressing, by keeping everything in place.  All and all, this project was an experiment in using Fabric-store.com's linen and it was nice to work with.  I'm looking forward to wearing this dress this summer!

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