Floral M7948 dress

The McCalls 7948 dress that I made earlier this summer is definitely one of my favourite recent creations. It also seems to be popular with other people - I've had strangers in the street compliment me on it which is always nice! It's very distinctive (I've taken to calling it my unsubtle dress), and I think it's probably the kind of thing that you might either love or hate, but thankfully I'm very firmly in the love category.

It's lovely to wear too, so I thought that I might need to revisit the pattern. For my second M7948, I decided to use one of the other options in the pattern. I stuck with the sleeveless bodice of view C that I'd used before, but this time used the pleated skirt of views A/B instead of the tiered gathered skirt. 

I do love that gathered skirt, but I wanted the dress to look noticeably different from my first version, and the pleated skirt definitely achieves that. Plus it has the added bonus that the pleated skirt has pockets. I think the tier seam in the gathered skirt overlaps with where a pocket would sit so that option doesn't have pockets - its one downside!

I used the same adjustments as my first version - lengthened the bodice by 1.5", redrew the armholes (there isn't a separate armhole line for the sleeveless bodice in the pattern), and for this version I also lengthened the skirt by 2". I go into more details about the adjustments in my post about my first dress, which you can read here.

I added waist ties to this version too, although in this case I prefer them tied at the front rather than the back. They are there I promise, they're just getting a bit lost in the busy print of my fabric!

Talking about the fabric - isn't it lovely?! I bought it semi-locally to me at Yandles. They don't have the best website, and this fabric isn't listed online, but they do have more fabrics in store (albeit more craft cottons than dressmaking). They also somehow manage to sell most of the things in their arts and crafts shop for less than RRP, so it's worth a trip if you're near Martock in Somerset!

I really like this fabric - it's a lovely cotton, and with all those colours and flowers it was always going to appeal to me! It's also the kind of fabric that I like to sew with as the seasons change because it allows me to keep sewing pretty summer cotton dresses, but the dark background means that it'll also work well layered with cardigans and tights as the temperatures drop. Win win!

As you can probably tell, I'm really pleased with how this second M7948 turned out. Have you made this pattern before? Have you started sewing for autumn, or are you still clinging on to summer projects?!