Despite having a drawer (or two) full of unopened and unused patterns begging for my attention, no sooner had I sewn McCalls 6395 than I cut out another one and made it all over again.  Except differently.

This time I made view B but with the collar from view C. The fabric is a ponte from Spotlight. The checks are woven on the diagonal, so I didn’t need to cut the pieces on the bias. There was also no way that I could easily match them at the seams, and believe me, I tried to figure it out.

As before, I cut size twelve, but this version fits me more snugly than the last. It’s interesting what results different fabrics give you. I left out the back zipper and cut the centre back on the fold. I sewed the neck band into a circle before attaching it to the dress. It still slips on over my head – just. Once again, I didn’t self line the sleeves. And once again, I was intending to use the reverse of the fabric for the collar and the hem band – but I forgot! This dress also has the sleeves and body shortened by around one and a quarter inches.

This time I used the overlocker for the entire dress construction, but then used a twin needle on my machine to topstitch the sleeve hems, the hem band, and the collar and collar facing into place. I am very happy with this dress, and received many positive comments on it when I wore it to work on Monday. I found a scarf in my cupboard that goes with it perfectly, and there are plenty of colours in the fabric that coordinate with my boot wardrobe and cardigan wardrobe. Fantastic!