McCalls 7088 In Spring

My Wisteria in full bloom!

Finally…the rain has slowed down and April is turning out to be a very beautiful month!  The setting at the winery I visited last weekend was fabulous.  It was a beautiful 76 degree day and I got to enjoy time with friends while listening to Ty Curtis play the blues and of course, sipped a glass of lovely rose wine… or two…or –uh…we’ll stay at two!  Needless to say, I had the feeling that life just couldn’t get much better!

Spring days like those at the winery always inspire and motivate me to push ahead through the winter drudgery mood that I develop, slap me in the face with new ideas and prod me on to the sewing machine to get back to creating clothes!  I posted a picture of my Wisteria above because it kind of reminds me of my fabric for the McCall’s 7088 dress I just finished. Well sort of!  I bought it from Mill Ends in Beaverton Oregon. 

Now you’re thinking…What? What McCall’s7088 dress are you talking about? Well, here’s the pattern:

I really enjoyed making this dress.  I got caught off guard with a surprise, but nothing disastrous.  If I made this dress over and over, there would be no surprises, only perfection!  But that’s how it is for us “home sewers”.  The beauty of this though is that with all the surprises and mistakes, we get very good at problem solving which is where that lovely creative part of us really kicks in!

Instructions for the dress construction are pretty straight forward.  I’m still working on improving SHARP pivots like that in the bodice so do whatcha gotta do! My fabric was sheer so I tread traced all the darts and used the pinking shears on all my seams.  I would have done french seams but the fabric has a slight stiffness to it and I was concerned how the seams would hang so decided to avoid them.

The bodice lining was easy.  I used a very fine white cotton that feels almost like silk.  For the price it should have been!

You might notice in the picture above that the waist seam allowance is pressed under 5/8″ inches.  I decided to not sew it into the waist with the skirt but rather sew it over the seam allowance of the skirt and skirt lining for a nicer finish.  This is when I realized that the right side of the lining would not be facing my body, the wrong side would.  Why?  Because that’s what the pattern instructions tell you to do!  I was okay with this here because my fabric was shear enough that I didn’t want the seams to show.  I had to iron out the fold and press the fold to the outside.  No problem though because I always baste a line of thread to follow when I press, which I remove later.

In the picture below, the dress bodice, skirt, and skirt lining have already been sewn together and the zipper installed. I went ahead and did the finish sewing that secured the skirt lining over the zipper tape. Now I was able to hand sew the bodice lining to the waist seam allowance and finish the sides along the zipper.

Here it is finished, laying on my working table with the sunlight shining in!  Not a very good picture for displaying work but it just seemed right because it’s sunshine!

I decided not to sew the lining straps to the dress shoulder.  If it becomes a problem, then I can easily do that  at any time.

Here is the back with the zipper open.

This is the back with the zipper closed.

The front.  In both this picture and the last one of the back, it is easy to see the lining.

A close-up of the neck.  Notice how the zipper rolls ever so slightly.  And I tacked it down!

This is the skirt and skirt lining.  Really no purpose but I took the picture and figured, why not!

I simply loved how this dress went together.  Probably the beauty of the fabric played an enormous role too.  The colors and brightness of the white lining lifted my mood.  I’m going to have to get back to a fabric store soon and buy some more cheery fabric and make another summer dress!

I suppose I better show you how it looks on me.  I keep worrying that it may be the boring part of my post but from some feedback I’ve gotten, it seems that’s sort of like the drum roll!  The question of what shoes I’ll be wearing is sometimes the grabber!  I’ll probably never know for sure, but as the old adage goes, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it! So, until then, I bring you me!

Yes… hot pink shoes!  Below is the back.

A close-up so you can see that the fabric is shear above the bodice back lining and of course, the strap that I chose not to sew to the inside of the shoulder is peaking out!

Back to the front…

And because I’m a ham!!!!

So there you have it… McCalls 7088 in Spring!  Speaking of spring… the sun is suppose to grace us with it’s company for the next four days, as you can see behind me through the window but for the moment, it’s time for me to sit, relax and enjoy a glass of Nebbiolo Wine and decide where to wear my new dress!

A Votre Santé! Jessica