If you’re across any kind of social media you would have seen many a version of McCalls 7969 over the past couple of years. It’s been a crowd favourite, and I’m no exception. I think I've made 6 versions of this dress, in everything from cotton to linen to rayon, and they’ve all become wardrobe staples. The gathered skirt on the cross-over, loose-fitting bodice is so easy to wear, and those sleeves!
For this project I chose a wide stripe linen blend from Pitt Trading, it’s just $14 a metre so I thought I’d play around with the direction of the stripes and see what happens. You’ll find the linen here
All cut out and ready to sew, and my overlocker decided it wasn’t going to play nice. No problem! This was a chance to explore the finishing stitches on my PFAFF creative 3.0
I sewed my seams with a 2.5 mm straight stitch then sewed the overlock stitch close to the straight stitch and trimmed away the excess. This gave a really nice finish and is an excellent alternative if you don’t have an overlocker on hand.
This dress comes together pretty quickly, once you’ve got the bodice constructed it’s just a matter of attaching the skirt and hemming.
The pattern has a lovely self-bias finish on the neckline and sleeve hems.
I’m calling this another successful m7969
The bold stripe is so classic in charcoal and white and the linen will be perfect year-round, layered up for winter or on its own in summer.
I love the stripes running down on the voluminous sleeves!
I can see this dress becoming another wardrobe staple. If you haven’t sewn the McCalls 7969 I definitely recommend giving it a go!
Until next time, Happy sewing
Julia