McCalls 7465 Dress

McCalls 7465 dress has been my only Fall sewing project this year! If you have been following me for some time, then you know glam sewing is what I love to do most! However, this Fall, I promised myself I would make one cozy, chic Fall piece (of course, a dress) before I dive into my holiday sewing plans!

And here it is: a midi sweater knit dress in a chocolate brown palm-tree print fabric. Love how it turned out!

Pattern:

The (PDF) pattern I chose is McCalls 7465 dress, in view B with a few modifications as listed in the mod section below. It is a pullover dress that has neckline, skirt and sleeve variations.

Retrieved from McCalls’ website: https://somethingdelightful.com/pdm7465

Fabric:

I purchased the palm leaf printed sweater knit in colour chocolate from Blackbird Fabrics last year. It has a rich caramel and dark brown chocolate colour mix with a very soft touch. It drapers beautifully and is quite lightweight and opaque, which made it a perfect choice for this dress design.

Modification:

Route petite size adjustments: shortening the bodice by about 1.5″, shortening the skirt by ~3″ and taking in ~ 2″ from the length of the batwing sleeves

I chose view B of the pattern, which as you can see above has a cowl neckline. I opted out and removed the cowl section of the pattern to create a straight and wide neckline instead. The total circumference of the neckline for me was 30″ (7.5″ on the folded pattern for both front & back), which allowed me to either wear the neckline straight or off one shoulder without having the bodice fit awkwardly. You can see the final modified pattern piece of the bodice below:

I finished the neckline edge by serging a bias binding from the fabric.

The skirt itself was quite close-fitting but I further tapered it towards the bottom and created a side slit on the right side seam for a chic look.

Conclusion:

If you are looking for a simple, practical dress that you will likely end up wearing a lot, then you will love McCalls 7465 dress. There are so many different variations to make a chic and comfortable dress out of this pattern, and you will have plenty of hacking opportunities on top of the different views. I love the combination of the batwing bodice with the close-fitted simple skirt that I made. Furthermore, I think the slit on the right side seam took this look one notch up on the glam scale. I always find the side slits so flattering.

You can use any lightweight, moderate stretch knit fabrics (e.g., jerseys, interlock, cotton knits etc) to create a beautiful summer dress in the ruched skirt view or use a slightly heavier knit (sweater knit) to create a Fall/Spring dress.

I love wearing sweater dresses and they are mostly what I wear in the Canadian Fall and Winter (with fleece lined leggings). I am very excited to have made my first ever me-made sweater dress. It will be surely in high rotation this Fall and Winter.

Hope you loved my first ever Fall project!

Much love xx

Ava