Tag: Spring dresses

Mother’s Day Maxi With Simplicity 1537

This year I decided to participate in the #sewmaxiformothersday challenge. I purchased this stretch cotton sateen from fabric.com. The bold print of this fabric is perfect for creating the look I want. While I don’t see anything like this fabric available now, here is something you can check out. I went through my pattern stash and found this OOP pattern. So I decided to make my Mother’s Day maxi with Simplicity 1537. It’s one of their “amazing fit” patterns that has separate patten pieces for different cup sizes. And with the princess seams, it’s a great way to get a terrific fit in your garment.

Woman wearing S1537 floral print maxi dress

I really like the design of this pattern. As a result of the princess seams, you can create the illusion of a defined waist. I only made one change to the pattern. The pattern calls for a 22″ zipper. Since I didn’t have that, I used a 16″ zipper. The shorter zipper causes no problems getting in and out of the dress. I changed the zipper application to centered rather than lapped. Initially I had done an incorrect lapped application and wanted this easy to install.

S1537 maxi dress back

You could make the dress longer if you like.

It seems that many people like their maxi dresses to skim the floor. I don’t really like that because it can ruin the hemline of your dress. This way, I don’t have to worry about tripping over it either. This classically designed pattern came out in 2013. One of the reasons I rarely get rid of my old patterns is because I might find that perfect match of pattern and fabric. I think I did that with this particular maxi dress.

Simplicity 1537 floral print maxi dress

This fabric, with its light stretch, has good movement. It washes well and sews up very easily. The stretch just makes it comfortable to wear and move in. If any of you have this pattern, I would give it a go. It has other options for length and sleeves as well.

Conclusion

Simplicity 1537 floral print maxi dress

I’m so glad I finally made my Mother’s Day maxi with Simplicity 1537. This can be a pattern I’ll use again!

McCall’s 8178 Dress Pattern

I bought this pattern in one of my recent pattern hauls. It’s funny because I almost didn’t buy t because I thought the pattern would be “too young” for me (whatever that means). But, I really like the style and ease of wear that McCall’s 8178 dress pattern offers. I’m glad I did get it. As it turns out, this is one of my favorite dress patterns I’ve made in a while.

McCall's 8178 dress pattern with belt

Honestly, this dress started out as a wearable muslin. But, the result turned out so well that now it’s just my dress. I used a quilting cotton for this. The dress does use a lot of fabric. There are 10 godets that have to be added. Those godets are what give the dress skirt its flare. Sewing the godets is easy but a bit time consuming.

McCall's 8178 dress pattern back

The three versions in the pattern of the McCall’s 8178 dress are: sleeveless, 3/4 sleeve with contrasting godets or 3/4 sleeve with matching godets. Clearly, you can make whatever combination you choose. I think a short-sleeve version for summer would be great! I would make the sleeves more of a bell-type sleeve rather than just short. That would look good with the flare of the dress. As you can see, I made my dress from all one fabric.

The dress goes together pretty easily. The pattern is for woven fabrics. Since there’s no zippers, etc it goes over the head.

McCall's 8178 dress pattern

The only change I made to this pattern was to lengthen the bodice by 1″. With this change, the seam hits closer to my waist. There is elastic in that waist seam. The only thing I would do differently the next time would be to add in-seam pockets. Since this originally started out as a simple muslin, I didn’t think to add them. But, next time for sure!