The Maxi Dress

I had wanted to make a maxi dress since the beginning of summer. A while ago I picked up a McCall's M6074 pattern at Joann's during their $1.99 sale. I also found a nice quality remnant at my favorite local fabric warehouse. I thought I was all set. Turns out, nope, not so much. The pattern required almost 4 yards of fabric, I had about half of that. A reasonable person would buy new fabric, but I decided to make it work.

Let's discuss the photoshoot first to get that out of the way. Actually there were three photoshoots and my husband put his foot down and informed me there will be no more. :) I have many many pictures, but just a few where I am not blurry. The ones where I smile and look all pleasant, no go. The ones were I have a smirk on my face or making wings with my arms are the ones in focus. :)

Ok, let's discuss the dress. :) At first I planned to fold the sides of the pattern to make it more narrow. The pattern had two pieces, front and back, but they were not cut on fold which of course resulted in a dress made out of four pieces. I didn't like that. I thought with the big flowery print the extra seams would look messy. I cut it on fold, which worked fine in front, but the back was two baggy. I decided to add darts in the back to make it more fitted.

Since it was a "make it work" project and I don't have a dress form, I had my husband pin the darts on me. I  evened them out and made them symmetrical, but overall he did an awesome job. :) Not sure how I feel about the gigantic bouquet on my derriere. :) But I am just going to roll with it.

The pattern instructed to just fold the edges on the neckline and armholes down and stitch. What?! I didn't like that, so I made narrow binding for both. Overall, I am happy with the dress, even though it took me longer then an hour to make. The fabric is very soft and drapes nicely. I have been wearing it quite a bit.