For my Easter dress this year, I wanted to make something that I could wear any day, but still special enough to dress up a little. I love Girl Charlee knits, and I’d had this pretty pink large scale floral knit in my stash for a month or so…just waiting for the right project. This particular print seems to be sold out, but I think this dress would be beautiful with this Sweet Blooms knit from Fabric.com.
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I started with the pattern: McCall’s 7319.
I really liked the look of this dress…the crossover looked unique, especially in the sleeveless version. And I love long maxi dresses, as you know from my previous blog post. As a mom, maxi skirts and dresses are the best. You can sit on the floor and be completely comfortable and I just always feel a little bit special in a long flowy knit.
When I went to sew the pattern, I had some trouble with the overlay pieces…they were about 3″ too long at the shoulders and didn’t match up at all when I placed the notch near the bottom of the v neck. After ripping the seam out twice, I almost threw the whole thing away. But then I thought maybe I could at least use the bodice pieces.
So I decided to change the bodice to have a lining instead of the overlays. I cut two front and two back bodice pieces and got ready to sew them at the shoulder seams.
Then I got creative and decided to add the ruffles…
And then I wanted to make the skirt floor length. I had already cut the short skirt pieces, so I changed the gathers to a full skirt gather (instead of just the front and back middle sections as written in the pattern) and added a large ruffle to the bottom.
When it was all done, I was pretty happy with the dress and I’m really glad I didn’t throw it away! I would definitely make this dress again with my modifications. I will try it next without the ruffle across the bodice. I think this would be a great go-to knit dress for summer. The v-neck is unique…I mostly see knit dress patterns with a rounded neckline.
So that is my pattern hacking adventure for this week! I hope you found some inspiration to make yourself a comfy maxi dress like mine. If you do, tag me on Instagram and let me know, I’d love to see it!
By the way…if you’d like to learn a little more about my creative process, you can read my interview on Kollabora’s Meet the Maker series. So fun!
Happy Sewing!