Here is a pattern review of my summer dress using McCall’s 7742. I wanted something that would be easy to sew, cool to wear, and cute! I went through my fabric stash and found this lightweight denim chambray. It was perfect for this dress. The material is soft and cool. It washes and dries well and seems like one of those things that will get softer with time.

For my dress, I made View B. As you can see from the photo above, it’s a shorter dress. I wasn’t completely comfortable with dress that length and I wished I had made it longer from the time I cut it out.

As you can see, it’s really not that short. It’s just shorter than most dresses I would wear.

So, I changed the hemline by cutting a 5″ strip from the selvedge edge of the fabric and adding it to the bottom of the dress.

That way, I have the added length I wanted that really makes it more comfortable for me to wear AND I have an interesting feature at the hemline. I left it raw because that’s actually trendy, and I could hem it later if I chose to.

Styling

But I also styled this is a couple of different ways. Of course, I can wear it as is much like the pattern envelope shows.

I also show it belted. I used a scarf I had that also adds a bit of color to the outfit.

I also decided to do a more beachy look with a beach tote I’ve had for years.

Additional Pattern Details

There are some sleeve options for the dress. I made View B which is the ruffle edge sleeve. There’s also a longer sleeve (it may be 3/4 sleeve) as well as no ruffle and another type of flutter-type sleeve. This might be cute in an eyelet fabric as a swimsuit coverup.

It’s an easy pattern to make and it’s comfortable to wear. I made mine in a large, but I probably could have gone down to a medium. The pattern is XS-S-M or L-XL. There is no bust measurement on the pattern envelope (and not on the pattern tissue itself). It’s an easy pattern that I think is beginner friendly. You will want to use some type of woven fabric that is soft and lightweight.

Using a pattern I already have and fabric I already had in my stash is in line with my previous blog post .

I recommend this pattern, but you might want to consider how loose it is when choosing you size. That would be my only caveat.

Until next time…

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