McCall’s 7683 dress

This is called my 1st me-made party dress. As you can see (a bit blurry), I am dancing and twirling by myself in the backyard…Yes, it was a party for one! WOoOoo. And yup, no one was taking the photo, the camera was on a tripod lol thankfully the backyard is mostly covered by the trees so the neighbours can’t really judge my craziness (or should I say my me-having-fun moments?). Y’all jealous if you are judging me 😂

So in the past, I have made modifications into the patterns to adjust the size or length or sleeves to my liking but this was the first time I added my own personal twist into the pattern (more on it shortly!) and ALSO nailed the fabric choice with the pattern. I often find that matching the fabric to the pattern is one of the challenging parts of sewing, be it the fabric design (solid or print) or the material and weight. It definitely is a learning process. So needless to say, I think I nailed it for this one ( was it luck? I don’t know) but I am super proud of how it turned out. Let’s get into it 🙂

Pattern: McCall’s 7683, and I made view 3+4 with modifications (explained in the next section). I first saw this pattern on Instagram and I knew immediately that this was going to end up as one of my favourite, most-used patterns. So I wasted no time in ordering it from the McCall’s website. You get different dress options with close-fitting bodices and various necklines. Skirt options also include circular skirt or long, close-fitting straight skirt with side slit and back train option. The mix and match opportunity to create your own design has made this pattern lie on top of my stash.

Fabric: I purchased a rayon jersey in pink abstract from Fabrications. It was super drapy and just so gorgeous.

Mods: So here’s my favourite part about this dress. All the mods I made.

1. The fuchsia binding at the bottom of the collar. I know it may sound trivial but it was a huge milestone for me to put my creativity into work and end up LOVING the results. What I did was to create the stripe from a cotton sateen fabric and go through all the pressing steps you do with a regular bias binding (there is a ton of youtube tutorials on this if you don’t know what I am talking about), and then attached the binding to the seam of the collar in the same fashion. I didn’t cut the stripe on the bias though mainly because there was no need for a stretch (versus what you want on a curve or neckline) so I didn’t have to waste fabric (hooray!). And the outcome was… *insert Cardi B’s haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa*

2. I also made a single layer of the collar as opposed to cutting two layers as instructed in the pattern. I just thought it was unnecessary to waste more fabric when you can only see one side of the collar. It could also make the collar heavier and less airy, flouncy, if you know what I mean. Mind you though, in some of my pictures I can actually see the wrong side of the fabric so maybe McCall’s was into something lol but still, I think it’s really optional.

3. I lengthened the collar by 20-25 inches to achieve some ruffles as opposed to what is shown on the pattern envelope on view 3+4. I liked the ruffled look of the collar on view 2+4 but with the off-shoulder style. So that turned out exactly how I liked it.

4. I added two darts to the front of the bodice to create some shape. I didn’t like how it sat on me (kinda of wavey) without the darts.

5. I made the bodice 1 inch shorter and the length of the skirt was shortened by another 2.5-3 inches as well.

What I would do differently next time: Nothing! Everything went great with this pattern and the instructions were crystal clear. I will be making the other views next.

Conclusion: If I haven’t already made it clear, you NEED this pattern in you stash 🙂 I think the value you get out of ONE pattern given the classic look of every one of these designs, makes this worth every penny and more. Absolutely loved everything about this and I can predict that this dress will be one of my most worn me-made dresses! Not to mention the amounts of compliments I have received so far.

Until next time loves xxx