Tartan check shirt dress

This vibrant tartan check cotton came to me back in spring from Minerva crafts online store. Whilst ordering it, I had not yet planned the pattern for it. In spring I was still actively collecting patterns, and only into the summer I chose the pattern for this fabric. It was fairly tricky McCall’s pattern M7682. Tricky for me, not in general – at that time I had not yet tried to sew a proper collar, nor had I tried to make button holes. So this make was supposed to feature few first times for me, and I bravely accepted the challenge!

My shoulders are narrow, so normally I have to cut the smallest size (6-8) for the upper part of the garment and then merge into size 10-12 at the waist. And even then I need to carefully try and check the sleeves placement before actually installing them. With this dress I learnt the drill which I am repeating ever since.

The collar was relatively easy to make, it ended up being an uneventful segment of work. Instructions did not prompt for the interfacing of the opening where the buttons and buttonholes were supposed to go. I went ahead and interfaced that part and also the waist, using a piece of heavy interfacing for the center section where the metal eyelets for the cord were supposed to go. Later it became clear that interfacing had been an absolutely necessary step in the process.

This dress has all kinds of things going on – eyelets, pockets, cord gathered sleeves, buttoned front, uneven skirt, check pattern of the fabric that had to be matched while cutting. Had to deal with all of that one after another, and honestly it was a lot of fun! Finally, I used 4mm rolled hem foot to finish the hem. Loved that bit too – it is very easy and fast way to create a neat and very narrow hem, no fuss at all. Am using both of my rolled hem feet (4mm and 6mm) often.

The pattern is McCall’s M7682, I chose to make view C. The fabric was tartan check cotton that I bought from Minerva Crafts UK. I needed 2.5 m of the fabric, other notions were 5 buttons, cord of 2 different thicknesses, eyelets, thread. The dress cost me 43 EUR. It was made in July, 2020.

Absolutely love this dress! Wore it many times during the summer. Might actually make this design again.

Let’s all stay healthy! 🤍

~Giedre~