I first sewed McCalls 7079 for Clare in January 2016, so a year and a half ago.  She’s worn it quite a lot, and requested something similar for winter.  So I pulled out the same pattern and went for it!

The pattern is a soft printed ponte/double knit from Super Cheap Fabrics. They had it in a couple of colourways (and still do, according to their website). It’s a perfect weight for a winter dress.

I based the sizing from the summer dress. It still fitted Clare fine in width, but needed the bodice and the skirt lengthened. That was easy enough to do, so this is basically size 10 in width with a couple of inches added to the bodice length. The skirt is at the pattern length, rather than being shortened as we did last time.

I cut the back on the fold without any cutouts – after all, this is a winter dress! The short sleeves of the pattern were used in combination with long sleeves from another pattern (I think a Hey June tee shirt pattern) to get the width and length correct.

It’s got the right amount of swishiness with the right amount of sassiness, I think. It’s already been worn quite a bit, and pairs beautifully with her pleather RTW jacket and embroidered Django & Juliette boots.

From the McCalls website: Pullover dresses have back bodice and skirt variations, and raised waist. A, B, C:Sleeveless. A, B, E: Flared skirt with narrow hem. B, D: Back bands. C, D, F: Gathered skirt and stitched hems. C, E: Back cutouts. D, E, F: Short sleeves. For moderate stretch knits only.

I suspect that this pattern is likely to get a few more outings, especially since it goes up to girls size 14 (I should probably pick up another copy on sale, as I’m not a pattern tracer).