I pulled an old dress out from the back of the closet about a month ago that was made using McCalls 9340. I think it's one of the earliest dress patterns that included a zipper that I made, so the construction of the dress is not quite up to my current standards. But it is still a completely wearable dress.
After deciding that I actually liked wearing the dress, even if it is a bit different than my standard silhouette, I wanted to try making another version of the pattern with a couple of small tweaks. And yes, I still have the pattern . . . which is only going to make it harder to get rid of all of the other old patterns I haven't touched in years . . . because I might find a use for them in the future.
The major change was that I wanted more of a ruffled effect to the neckline rather than just an elastic casing to finish the edge.
While the curve at the side of the front bodice gave me a tiny bit of grief, adding additional length to the upper edges of the bodice and sleeve pieces did the trick.
Because the elastic casing is set back from the edge of the folded neckline, it gives a lovely ruffled look after the elastic is placed.
In the end, I did remove a bit of length from the neckline elastic guide included with the pattern. I cannot recall if I did the same to the original dress because it's been so long.
But it was pretty clear as soon as I pulled the elastic through the casing that the fabric wasn't gathered enough. And sure enough, once I tried the dress on, the back bodice was pulling away from the body because the circumference was just too big for me (especially when worn on the shoulders).
I hand-picked the zipper into place after basting it into place.
A lapped application is my go-to, however, because of the ruffled neckline, I thought a standard, centered application would work best in this case.
And here is what that detail looks like. There are definitely hints of nightgown (mostly to do with my chosen print, I think), but it's still a very cute, easy to wear dress.
But I wasn't quite finished. There wasn't a whole lot of yardage left, but I did have enough to add some kind of trim to the lower edge of the skirt.
And since this silhouette has definite Regency vibes, I thought it would look quite authentic.
First I cut a bunch of strips of my fabric and finished both edges with a narrow hem.
I played around with some fabric scraps and pinned it to the dress to see if I was headed in the right direction before coming up with a pleated trim.
And once I had decided on knife pleats, I went ahead and got to pressing my pleats into place.
It adds a nice texture to the basic design of the dress.
To finish it all off, I found a spool of velvet ribbon that was a match to the print and would cover the line of stitching that attaches the pleated trim to the dress.
Because I had plenty of the ribbon on hand, I contemplated adding two extra rows of the ribbon, but in the end, decided that it looked too busy.
It was a fun experiment to rediscover an old pattern.
This is definitely an easy to wear option for the warmer months. So overall, a success. And yet another reason to hang onto all of my old patterns!
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