McCalls 8142 golden dress
Hello and welcome to yet another dress post! š This one is very special because it is the first project where not only my fabrics are a thrift store find but they were used in making a full blown glam look. I am so happy to show through this make that you don’t need fancy expensive fabrics to make glamorous garments. You can go right from thrift store to glam! So lets get right into it!
The pattern and fabric:
The fabric is a metallic lamĆ© and I was so lucky to find two gold tones at my local Value Village for ~ $1.99/yard. As soon as I saw them I knew right away that a) they were coming home with me and b) they’ll be made into a full blown red carpet glam look (I mean, nothing less would do them justice š ).
I used the lighter colour for the bodice & skirt and the darker tone for sleeves (mainly because I ran out of the lighter tone š¬). But I tied things together by using the dark tone on the piping of the neckline and I think it worked wonderfully.
The lamĆ© fabric itself had a two way stretch but if you overstretch it, the fibers got irreversibly stretched/damaged. So it was less forgiving than a typical knit. Be careful not to cut your garment too small if that is the case. Other than that it wasn’t difficult to work with.
The lovely pattern I used was the newly released McCalls 8142 in pdf format. You can make so many variations of knit pull-on dresses with two bodices & different skirts options plus bishop sleeves. It’s such a good value for how many mix and matches you can get, so if you’re into dress & evening wear this pattern is definitely worth having in your stash.
Pattern modifications:
As always, I first made a toile first using a leftover fashion knit following the pattern pieces that I only modified to compensate for my curvy and petite figure (e.g., shortening the bodice and skirt, blending to a larger size at hips etc). I also opted for leg of mutton sleeves for my final dress.
Here is a list of mods on the final pattern:
- shortened the bodice waistline by 1″ and extended the skirt waistline by 1″ up
- brought the neckline down 2″ above the waistline. I was feeling adventures on the final fabric and was going for a JLo inspired deep V neck. Looking back, this fabric was a bit tricky for that design because it shows every little fold and kink yet you can only stretch it so much. I think a typical knit would have worked better but I still like it
- I didn’t line the dress because the fabric was opaque enough and the inside of the fabric was actually really smooth
- Used a piping on the neckline using the darker tone fabric
- since overstretching the fabric was not an option without damaging it, I opted for a side zipper for the closure
- Self drafted leg of mutton sleeves instead of the pattern’s bishop sleeves. Let me know if you would be interested for me to share that in another post
Overall, of all my makes I had the most fun photoshooting this dress and I am sure you can tell why š I loved this pattern and I will make a hundred more dresses with it until I can master it with closed eyes! Spoiler: my next dress is using this same pattern! And btw, this halo crown was from JV Accessories, a black owned Canadian business which I was proud to support.
Hope you guys enjoyed this dress as much as I did. Don’t forget to check out your local thrift stores! You never know what you may find!
Let me know what you think of this look!
Much love xxx
Ava
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