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.

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.

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.

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!

Springtime Favorites (Old and New)

Now that the days are getting longer here in the mid-Atlantic region of the US and the sun shines more often, I can’t help but think Spring. So, I wanted to share some of my springtime favorites, which includes patterns and some previous makes. While we all love getting new patterns, if you’re anything like me, you have plenty of patterns that may never have even been taken out of the pattern envelopes – LOL! This post will show some of those (purchased in previous years and purchased last month).

Years ago, I made this skirt using Vogue 8295. I actually featured it in a blog post back here.

This is a fun look that can be casual and comfortable as well. I used an older pattern to make this, but I like to share ideas for patterns you may already have.

One of my favorites is this jacket pattern. McCall’s 6172 is great for a classic jacket. I’ve made this twice already. The bright, sunny yellow is my favorite because it’s such a happy, springtime look.

M6172 jacket and M7906 skirt — McCall’s 6172 jacket and McCall’s 7906 skirt

And that skirt has also proven to be a favorite as well. It is McCall’s 7906. I intend to make this again, maybe in a solid (corduroy would be a good option).

As far as new (or newer) patterns are concerned, I’ll show you a couple of those to help you get your creative juices going.

I bought this stretch cotton sateen recently along with several packs of pink buttons in order to make a dress. I had this pattern (Butterick 6674) that I think will be a perfect match for the fabric. The dress might need to be lined since the fabric is a bit thin. Honestly, I haven’t made a dress in a while and I’m looking forward to having some for summer, especially.

A “moto” jacket on my list of things I want to sew. I bought this pattern right after it came out.

While I don’t want to use a glitter fabric for it, I might be able to find something suitable in my own fabric stash. This pattern has pockets which a bit different from a previous make. I might give this one a try.

I hope I have given you some ideas on projects you might want to tackle for yourselves. These are just a few of my springtime favorites. Although I’m not really working off of my list, I find that I am actually making progress. I have been able to check some things off!

“Vogue Basic” Classic Jacket

I’m working on adding some classic pieces and basics to my wardrobe this year. To that end, I have added another versatile piece with this Vogue Patterns 7975 lined jacket. This pattern has been around for a while and this is not the first time I’ve made it. My first one (which I still have and wear) is here.

This is a combination of views on the pattern. It’s basically View B without the chenille trim (which I couldn’t find). But I just love that this is fully lined and can be made from a variety of different fabrics. This is a black and white polyester blend suiting (I think) that I’ve had for a few years. I used lining material I bought at JoAnn’s a while back.

The hardest part about making this was that the fabric kept unraveling on the cut edges. I serged the seams after they were sewn because I don’t like to see those stray threads coming out from the lining that can occasionally happen.

This pattern also gives instructions on hand sewing the sleeve lining to the jacket, which is something that I didn’t think I would enjoy. But I found it to be fairly relaxing, in part because of the time it takes to get it done.

Is hand sewing something you enjoy, or something you try to avoid?

I know some people will do anything to avoid sewing anything by hand!

But if you get the chance to make this pattern or something similar, it’s worth the effort. I think this style is so adaptable to many different body shapes and sizes.

Until next time…

Keep on sewing!