DIY Black and Bright Midi Dress | Butterick B6655

I didn’t expect a black dress to feel this happy! Sewn in a confetti-embroidered cotton twill, this Butterick B6655 has been in my dreams for the past year. The idea was first sparked by a Spring 2018 runway look from Carolina Herrera which featured colorful buttons. I pinned that idea to my seasonal board until Butterick released this pattern months later. Though their styling leaned toward the more mature, suburban aesthetic of their brand audience, I called out the Sew The Look inspiration right away. I determined to recreate this dress with more of the chic, urban styling of the Carolina Herrera dress, less its $1900 price point. 

On my first read of this pattern I thought, “well, this will be fast and easy!” I even considered creating more of a challenge for myself by swapping the back zipper for functional buttons in front. The difficulty of this dress, however, lies in the smallest details. All of the main style lines are highlighted by contrast stitching. That topstitching direction is peppered throughout, but takes up so little space in the instructions. I didn’t realize how time consuming it would be. 

The topstitching also makes the dress construction more difficult for fitting. If you take the steps in order, you will spend hours on topstitched details before attaching the shoulders and side seams to check the fit. I recommend a muslin if you typically require several fit adjustments.

I chose to use a cyan blue thread for edgestitching and chartreuse for topstitching a second row. The electric lines brighten up the dress and play off the colorful embroidered dots. Fabric choice means everything for this dress! A busy print would obscure the style lines that add so much interest to the simple, demure shape. That’s perhaps why, to-date, there are so few makers of this dress on Instagram. Butterick should have inspired with more interesting styling for their pattern envelope!

That same problem did not befall Butterick in 1935. The Summer 1935 Butterick catalog features a similar dress on its cover with bright red buttons and fun envelope pockets. My dress might reference a 2018 designer look, but its style is timeless! I can’t wait to wear it to church, alumni events and professional networking for years to come!

Pattern

• Butterick B6655, View C
• Sewing Difficulty- 2/5
• Fit Difficulty – 2/5
  • If you follow the pattern instructions in order, you can’t test the fit until you’ve topstitched the darts down. Make a muslin or consider basting the side seams early to confirm your sizing.
• I love this dress! I would love to make another, sleeveless version in a white or cream linen with brown or sage green top stitching. That would make such an elegant and timeless look for summer.
• This pattern doesn’t include pockets, but next time I will add some.

Fabric & Notions

• Black cotton twill with colorful embroidered dots from Chic Fabrics in NYC
• Deadstock 1″ Tommy Bahama buttons found in NYC

Fit & Modifications

• I cut a size 16 at the top, grading down to a size 14 at the waist
• Front bodice:
  • Added 3/4″ in length to the front above the bust line and another 3/4″ at the lengthen and shorten line
  • Made a 1/2″ (total 1″) full bust adjustment (FBA). Also, I moved the bust point over and down to match my body.
  • Widened the darts on each side of the front by 1/4″ to pull in the waist more. There were also lowered a bit.
  • Shortened the front armhole by 1/2″
• Back bodice:
  • Shortened the back neckline by 1/2″
  • Added 1″ in length above the waistline
  • Graded up a bit to between a 16 and 18 at the hips on the back pattern piece only
• Added 2″ at the lengthen and shorten line above the hips. 
• Added 2″ at the hem. In total, I added about 5 1/2″ inches in length for #sewingtall adjustments.
• I chose to skip every third button so there are gaps of black.

Tips for contrast stitching

• Like the Carolina Herrera inspiration, my style lines are highlighted with 2 rows of stitching:
  • Edgestitching is 1/8″ from the edge
  • Topstitching is 1/4″ from the edge, or spaced 1/8″ from the edgestitching
• I used a blind hem foot to keep the spacing of my lines. An edgestitch foot would also work perfectly.
• Always test your stitches on a scrap of fabric interfaced and at the same thickness as what you’re sewing. Test again every time you rethread your machine to switch colors to be sure your stitches come out as desired.
• To make the lines thicker and more visible, I used 2 threads in my needle. Wind a spare bobbin with thread so you can have 2 spools turning with the same thread.
• I found that I needed to increase my thread tension by moving the dial to a higher number. This stopped my upper threads from showing through on the back side.
• For any stitching that would be visible on the wrong side, for example the sash belt, I used the extra bobbin of the other color. In other words, I used blue in the bobbin when I was stitching with the chartreuse thread.
• Lengthen your stitches when topstitching and be sure to double check each time before you stitch. I used a 3.0 length.
• To topstitch at the fisheye darts, use a basting stitch in a different contrasting color. This will give you a clear curved line to use as a guide for stitching and will be easier to see and remove with a seam ripper.

Tutorials that were helpful

• To help this dress hug my body more, I curved the darts. This post on historical sewing has a lot of great tips for darts.
• I checked and confirmed best practices for topstitching with this tutorial.
• Not a tutorial but I’ve created a Topstitching Pinterest board to inspire more contrast stitching details.