Striped sheath: McCalls 6028

Confession: I envy other people's stripes. Someone will walk into a room in a great striped dress or top, and it is all I can do not to stare. And my favorite bloggers all have put up great stripes lately... Sallieoh's Candy Striper is fantastic, and Lauren at Lladybird's striped swimsuit is amazing! Like so amazing that I may have to make a swimsuit too... but that's for another post...

Well, stare away at my latest make! This is McCalls 6028, done up in a wide striped ponte knit from Emmaonesock. This might be my oufit along dress... I'm a little unsure, I think I have to try it out with the sweater, assuming I ever finish it. Since the sweater is chevron striped, I figured the dress had to be striped or solid. I went through my stash and rediscovered this fantastic striped ponte that I bought last year. And then I went through my pattern stash, and found McCalls 6028... what a perfect pairing! The only possible problem: I only had 1.5 yards, and the pattern calls for 2 1/8 for my usual 16/18 combo. Not to mention any extra for laying out the stripes!

 

But I still thought I could make it work (and obviously I did, since I'm showing off the end product-- Spoiler Alert!) First of all-- since the pattern is meant for a woven, I figured I could probably get away with several sizes smaller. After scrutinizing the actual dress measurements, I decided to go with a size 14, which only requires 1 and 5/8 yards. I spent a looooooong time laying out my pattern pieces, and ended up going considerably shorter than the pattern suggested. Actually, it is shorter than I would usually go. I think mid thigh is still decent though!

I was a little skeptical of this pattern since a couple people seemed to have problems with it in their reviews. But the Mahogany Stylist has a fantastic version in plaid and red piping, so I decided to give it a go. I didn't really follow the directions, but the bit that I did read was well written, had great tips, and seemed to have a totally sane order of construction. But as I said, I didn't really follow them, I just did my thing.

And I LOVE the fact that pattern has an all-in-one facing... I almost always have to draft this myself, and I like an all-in-one sooooo much more than separate neck and armhole interfacings that are always trying to sneak out no matter how I tack them. I did mine in a cream ponte from my stash, interfaced with knit interfacing from Fashion Sewing Supply-- the only interfacing I ever use anymore. I guess with a knit I could have done a binding instead of a facing, but I liked the clean look of the facing.

Since I had sewn the side seams already, getting the facing in was a bit of a trick. I wasn't going to unpick the side seams after spending all of that time matching the stripes. So I ended up using this method to machine sew the facing. It is a bit more time consuming, but it works!

No zipper-- with a stretchy knit, it just wasn't necessary!

For the hem, I totally cheated... I used no-sew hemming. I wanted it to look seamless, and it was going to be a trick to sew since at one point I had about a quarter of an inch to make my hem with. I probably could have hand sewed a blind seam, but I doubt it would have looked as perfect as the iron on hem!

Look a that strip matching! I had to redo my basting about 5 times to get it right.

And okay, it isn't perfect here. But I think it still looks pretty good. Note to self-- cut more carefully next time!

 

It is a pretty great dress, even if I do say so myself! Might keep stripe envy in check for a little while... well, until someone else walks into the room with some great stripes that I can't help but admire...