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!

Terrific Summer Dress Patterns To Sew

I’ve been wanting to write a post like this for a while. I just wanted to feature some of my favorite summer dresses that I’ve made previously and give you some pattern information or information about the process of making these. These are some terrific summer dress patterns to sew.

Vogue 8997

I made this dress a few years ago and I still have it and love it. I’ve seen some other bloggers and sewists use this pattern lately although I don’t know if it’s still available. You can read the original post here.

I did find that when making this dress, I had to reconfigure the layout in order to have room for the pattern pieces to fit.

BurdaStyle 05/2019 #107

Another favorite. pattern of mine is this BurdaStyle Magazine dress from 05/2019 #107.

BurdaStyle magazine pattern 05/2019 #107 in lemon and navy blue — **BS 05/2019 #107**

I made modifications to the pattern with this dress (short-sleeves and added pockets). That original post is here. I truly love this dress! It’s a fairly basic shirtdress style, but I think my love of this comes from the lovely lemon fabric. It’s a stretch cotton (it’s almost sold out, but here’s the link from fabric.com). The fabric has a good weight for a dress like this and washes really well.

BS 05/2019 #107 in navy and lemom print back view

Simplicity 8384

My last one for this post is one that I’ve made twice. It’s Simplicity 8384.

As you can see, the pattern had another number when I first bought it, then they changed the number when it was issued later.

S8384 front view in green and white — **S8384**

This one is made in a green polka dot stretch cotton.

S8384 front view in ankara fabic — **S8384**

The last one I made was in this African wax print. Both of these are cool and comfortable to wear in the summer. The last post I wrote about this pattern/dress is here.

The one thing about all of these patterns is that the styles are all classic and uncomplicated. That’s why they can be made from a classic print, a more vibrant print, or just about any solid fabric you could choose. That’s another reason they are favorites for me. I really like versatile patterns and these all fit that category for me.

I hope I’ve given you some ideas for some things you might want to make for yourselves. Any of these patterns (or something similar) are great options!

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