My mum, my daughters and I usually have a new Thornberry frock for Christmas – my husband often gets a new shirt!  But this year I lost my sewjo.  I did manage a quick tee for Dan in a Christmas themed print, but I didn’t have the energy for anything else.  However, the day before we were due to head off to the country, Stella asked what she should wear for Christmas lunch with the relatives.  And I found the energy!

I had picked up a large remnant piece of Ocean coloured poplin from The Cloth Shop a month or so earlier, thinking that it might be a colour that Stella would wear. McCalls 7946 had also been in my pattern stash for a little while. I also had a heap of previously made bias binding in the drawer, and plenty of elastic. The planets aligned!

Now, this is a ‘learn to sew’ pattern. It’s not difficult to sew, but it’s not quick! There’s plenty of binding to be sewn on to make channels for the elastic, then lots of elastic to be threaded through. The design is extremely forgiving fit wise though, which makes it more likely to be a successful project for someone who hasn’t been sewing for long. When I googled the pattern there are some people who have chosen to shirr the bodice rather than use elastic in channels. My sewing machine doesn’t like shirring, so the channel method worked better for me.

You can see in the above photo how many areas have elasticised gathering; the sleeve cuffs, the neckline, the bodice, the sleeve heads. I did try the dress on Stella and check that the shoulder elastic was a good length for her before securing it in place.

The insides are very multi-coloured! I used elastic that was about 12mm wide as that’s what I had in stash, so chose the binding accordingly without worrying what print it was. You need plenty of binding!

My phone camera really doesn’t cope well with close ups of blue fabrics; it washes them right out. The outdoor photos of Stella wearing the dress are a more accurate representation of colour. I turned an inch to the wrong side at the top of the skirt ruffle then gathered it using my preferred method of two rows of lengthened machine stitches, pulled up by hand. I secured the ruffle to the skirt with a double row of stitching on the outside of the dress so that it gave a narrow frill above the stitching.

I am fairly sure that I cut out size 6 for Stella, which is pretty much the size I’d buy for her in the shops. I cut the elastic to the lengths specified in the pattern.

There are a few options included in this pattern – strapless, shoulder ties, short sleeves, longer sleeves, plus different skirt lengths and with or without a ruffle.  Stella’s dress is basically view C with the short sleeves of view B.

Note the length of Stella’s dress – this is as per the pattern, and Stella is around 160cm tall.  Stella chose to style the dress with her favourite corset-style belt and sandals on what ended up being a very hot day.  She’ll also wear it trans-seasonally with fishnets and boots, and maybe a jacket.  I am so pleased that I managed to sew one member of the family a Christmas dress, and even more pleased that Stella liked it!