McCalls 6069 Valentine dress

Several days ago, I realized that Valentine's Day was coming, and a new dress might be a good idea. I knew I didn't have time for a full out fitted woven dress, so I flipped through my knit dress patterns and came across McCalls 6069, which I bought after admiring Elizabeth's.

I've had this border print ITY in my stash for a year, just looking for the right pattern. I think this was right on. Can you believe I found this at Walmart!?! Hello, $3 dress.

Here it is on Sandra Dee. I'll admit, when I finished it and put it on the dressform, I totally thought it was frump city. It doesn't even look good on her! But I think it was saved with accessories. The bling-y necklace broke up all that black in front and the belt gave me a waist.

Better, right? Mitch really liked it, so I think it's a winner. I did make quite a few alterations to the pattern to get here though...

Starting with the back. I have had a few too many cowl mishaps lately to take a risk with one as deep as this one looks, so instead of the cowl back neckline, I actually used the square neck front pattern piece and redrafted the armscye to make it a back. The skirt front/back piece is the same, so I knew it would fit together just fine.

I also did my usual knit top cheater FBA by grading out the side bodice piece under the arm. I probably could have given myself a wee bit more room, as evidenced by the little wrinkle in this shot, but the dress is comfortable and doesn't pull across the front, so I think it's good enough.

My biggest beef with this dress is the neckline. Facings on a knit dress are just a recipe for failure IMHO. As you can see, mine rolls out a bit. I considered using a band, but that would have meant dealing with 4 corners, which I wasn't into. I think that lining the bodice with tricot would have been a good alternate option though.

I did try to eliminate some of the roll out by deepening and squaring off the facings, making sure that they caught in the armscye well. I think this did help in the corners, but there isn't anything holding CF down, so that is where it is rolling out.

So, while it isn't perfect, it was perfect for its intended purpose! It wowed my Valentine on our date, and I could eat as much of the amazing meal we had as I wanted. Elastic waist? Yes, please!