Party dress time! I’m obsessed with my fun new dress, but would you believe it took me nearly a year to wear it? That’s right – I started and got 75% of the way finished sewing it, and then I just waited and waited until I had the perfect occasion before finishing and showing it off.
My occasion to debut this dress came this past weekend with the annual Black Alumni Council of Columbia University homecoming party. I’ve been to this great party every year since I was invited as a Black Students Organization leader in 2007, except I missed last year while in London. I can now look back on pictures from this event and see how my fashion, hair and face have evolved as I’ve matured in womanhood from age 18 to age 30!
This dress perfectly embodies my current style. It’s tailored to my height, a little bit sexy with cleavage, boldly printed all over, and most importantly I designed it myself. I love how much depth and interest there is in the cotton brocade fabric which I think looks more expensive because you can’t discern the pattern repeat. The animal print is also a bit more artistic than many I’ve seen. In grey, black and white, this dress looks like a painting and has a place in my fall neutral collection.
In the year since I first started this dress I installed a zipper, broke that zipper, lost 15 pounds, seam ripped the first zipper, altered the dress bodice to be much smaller, and finally got the perfect fit. Don’t be surprised if you see me wearing this dress again and again to make up for the long story of birthing it. Watch the full story of making this dress on my Instagram highlights.
What are some more ways I can style this dress to get more wears out of it?
Pattern
- McCall’s M7777, View A Dress
- Sewing Difficulty – 2/5
- Standard darts, easy seam lines and invisible zip with hand stitching to secure the lining to the zipper
- Fit Difficulty – 2/5
- Cup sizes are included to help fit the bodice but #sewingtall adjustments may require relocating the placement for your bust apex
- I have also made the jumpsuit version of this pattern and a wearable muslin romper!
Fabric
- Leopard print cotton brocade
- Purchased 1.5 meters from the end of the roll at a Cloth House warehouse sale for about Β£6/meter
- Polyester lining fabric
- Similar-ish fabric at Joann’s
Fit & Modifications
- I chose to fully line the skirt so the fabric would not cling to my stockings
- After drafting the dress with a few extra inches in length, I decided the knee-length a-line dress was too demure for parties and shortened to finger tip length
- All of the bodice adjustments I made for my birthday jumpsuit were first made with this dress including:
- Used D-cup pattern
- Added 1.5″ to lengthen line and redrew the dart lines to match the original dart width
- Raised the low neckline by adding 1.5″ at the center front
- Pinched out 0.5″ from the front armhole and 0.5″ from the back collar to remove gaping
- Increased the width of the back darts to grade down at my waist
- After all of those changes, I went back and took out about 2″ from the upper back to the hipline to fit after my summer weight loss. (Don’t worry – the dress is still roomy enough for some holiday party inches!)
Tips
- Measure twice before cutting! If you need to take in a nearly-finished garment, here are a few steps to take so you don’t cut too much:
- Try it on as-is and put a pin on either side of the garment at the spots where the seam/zipper should meet (a friend would be helpful)
- Do this in at least 3 places where you’re altering so you can form a line
- Take off the garment and mark the line where the pins are marked with chalk. Be sure to balance out the alteration so it is even on both sides
- Sew along the line using long basting stitches
- If you can, pull the garment on to try it on again with the basting stitches in place
- Add your zipper or sew down the seam to finish
- Try it on again – hopefully a perfect fit
- Trim off any excess fabric along the seam
- To get a truly invisible blind hem, it’s crucial that you press both folds at the hem as flat as possible. Use a tailor’s clapper to set that crease in a thicker woven fabric like this jacquard.
- Steam and press the hem for a few seconds with the iron
- Place the clapper on top of the pressed hem for 5-10 seconds
- The clapper absorbs the moisture from the fabric helping it to set
Tutorials that were helpful
- The last finish of this dress is a blind hem. I used this detailed tutorial by Colette patterns to get it just right.
Ana Araujo
Hey!! I saw this post and I am trying to make this pattern. I am struggling because i need to incrEase the waist. I am using the size 8 top part and the size 14 for the BOttom short jumper. Do you know how I should go about ConnEcting these tWo pieces??
Robyn Andrea
Ana AraujoHi Ana, Grading between those sizes can be tricky. As a first step, I would look at the finished garment measurements printed on the pattern and confirm based on your measurements. It may be that there is enough ease in the pattern that you don’t have to grade up to a 14. Without knowing how your body is shaped it’s hard to make recommendations. If your waist requires a 14 but your hips are smaller, you may consider doing a ‘fully tummy adjustment’. You will need to make adjustments to the top/bodice for a tummy adjustment as well as the bottom. Try to balance by reducing the width of any darts instead of adding all everything at the side seams. You should be tracing everything on new paper to be clear about your adjustments. And definitely make a muslin! You’ll get a chance to practice, pin it on your body, and fix issues before using your fashion fabric.
I hope that helps! – Robyn