McCall's 7242 - Border Print

Winter is coming to an end, well, I am hoping and wishing but today was a gorgeous day for photos, so that is a good thing.  This Mood Fabrics’ Italian Black Striped Floral Rayon has been calling my name to sew it up and I decided I better get to it.   This is a fabulous fabric and do note it has a stripe with the pattern.  I lined it up everywhere but the side seams of the bodice, I just didn’t have enough fabric.

My dress is McCall’s 7242, which is a bit 1970’s to me and been on my to-make list for a year.  I love the look of this dress, the full sleeves, buttons, elastic waist, pockets, and a cute ruffle at the bottom.

Another change for shortage of fabric, the ruffle is cut three times but I only had enough for two times.  I wanted to use the border print, oh, wait, I didn’t mention this fabric is a border print too.  I did cut my fabric on the crosswise grain, the pattern went that way, so seemed a natural choice.

Oh, yes, this dress has pockets!

This fabric was a dream to sew, just easy to work with and the drape was perfect for this style.  I did use a bit of the border print for the collar band, just the black part, which is upper part on my ruffle.  One more part of the border print was used for the back yoke, the white background section.

One thing I really like about using a border print is how creative you can be with the fabric.  It was fun to play with the layout and see the possibilities.

Now a bit about the construction, I went with a 12 for this dress, adding 1 inch to the bodice, sleeves and skirt.  The sewing was straight forward and no real issues with the instructions.

I did sew the buttonholes in my dress but I do not have to use them to get the dress on and off.  It just slips right over my head.

With this in mind and my fabric having a stretch, I did something to prevent any gaping in the bodice and the waist with the elastic.  I used matching thread and stitched the front edge closed, not a very traditional technique but it sure made a difference in how the dress worked on my body.  Especially at the waist, even with a couple of snaps at the waist, it just pulled at that spot.  I am going to tighten the elastic at my waist a bit more as the weight of the skirt pulls the waist down a bit.

Happy is a great adjective on how I feel with this pattern and fabric combination.  I am heading over to Mood Fabrics to see what other border prints I can add to my collection.

Thanks to one of my daughters who took these photos, a different change of place than my front yard and porch!

Disclosure - I receive a monthly fabric allowance from Mood Fabrics to make a garment.  This garment is blogged at Mood Sewing Network first and then I will blog here about this garment.