McCall's Goes a Little Bit Retro This Season

Have you all seen this new McCall's pattern? It's the spitting image of the yellow dress I draped last summer!

bodice, mid-construction

Of course, I can't take any design credit for it since I knocked it off an Athropologie dress.

If I had just waited a year, I could have saved myself a lot of trouble!

There's also a version with side cowls on the skirt, which I'm not too fond of.

 But I like this strapless version with a contrast bodice.

Bonus: the pattern has 3 different cup sizes.

There's another very cute, retro-inspired pattern from McCall's this season, M6331. It doesn't look like much in the photos.

 But then look at these cute line drawings! This is another multi-cup size pattern.

It's awesome to see such cute vintage-inspired designs in the latest collection. Keep 'em coming, McCall's!

The Yellow Dress (in Nashville!)

Well, the dress is finished and has had its inaugural wearing! I sewed the last stitch just before our museum meet-up at the Frist to see the Golden Age of Couture exhibit.

Jeff took pictures of me in the lobby of The Hermitage Hotel, where we stayed. It was ridiculously beautiful and grand, and provided quite the backdrop!

I posed, rather queen-like, in one of the fancy armchairs.

Then two of the exceedingly nice hotel workers insisted on moving the chair in front of the fireplace so we could get the perfect shot. A far cry from the usual shots in my apartment, isn't it?

Then we headed over to the museum.

And met up with the group—a fabulous mix of fellow bloggers (including Amy and Jenny) and fashion enthusiasts.

The Frist arranged a guided tour for us! Our docent was the wonderful Mancil, who was incredibly knowlegeable, funny, and photogenic.

Super big thanks to Ellen and Mancil at the Frist! They gave us quite the warm reception. The exhibit was absolutely breath-taking, and I will definitely be writing more about it in a upcoming post.

P.S. I know I dropped off on construction posts on the yellow dress. I'll do one more to wrap it up, including how to install a waist stay!

The Yellow Dress, Part Three: Constructing the Boned Inner Bodice (with Video!)

Okay, I've created the outer dress layer and now it's time for some hardware! Get out your pliers, ladies.

I opted to put boning into my bodice in the lining layer. I was going to sew in store-bought boning channels, but my teacher Sharon had a better idea: she suggested making the bodice lining two layers that could be sewn together to create channels (kind of a like a bodice sandwich!). So I added a layer of silk organza to my cotton batiste lining. (If you've read Susan Khalje's excellent article "The Secret to Party Dresses that Stay Put" in Threads #145, then you'll recognize this method.)

So, I needed to create two bodice linings. One out of the cotton batiste:

And one out of the silk organza.

Aside: isn't silk organza so pretty on its own? Someday soon I want to use it as the fashion fabric in a dress, not just support fabric!

And then I pinned the two layers together at the seams. (Click to view any of the photos larger.)

And then I drew in the boning channels, lightly, in pencil. The channels need to be 3/8" wide to accommodate 1/4" spiral steel boning.

Stitch along your markings, creating a channel between the two layers of fabric. See how your boning slides in?

Obviously, this piece of boning is too long and will need to be cut. Here's a handy video showing you how! (Note: First, you want to add a row of stitching at your bottom seam allowance. This will keep the boning in its channel.)



If you can't watch the video right now, the jist of it is this. Cut your boning with wire cutters, to a length 1/8" shorter than your boning channel, minus seam allowances. (The 1/8" allows for the boning tip that you're going to add.)

Take a boning tip and crimp it on with a pair of pliers.

Do this for each of your channels and you've got a fully-boned inner bodice! Here's mine:

The next step will be to sew the skirt lining onto the skirt bodice. (There's no need for a layer of silk organza on the skirt lining, thank goodness. Just the batiste.) One thing to note: when attaching pieces to a bodice that's been boned like this, you have to be very careful not to stitch on the steel boning, as it will break your needle and possibly injure you in the process. Use a zipper foot and stitch very carefully.

That's all for this installment. Hope this was helpful to you!