Summer is for Maxi Dresses

                              

I love an airy maxi dress for hot summer days. I recently made Mccalls 7121 in a rayon jersey from Fabric Mart. This dress was fast to sew and feels fantastic to wear. 

                          

I love this easy pattern and fun fabric options on the pattern cover. When making my dress, I opted to skip the instructions and sew the dress to include an all-in-one facing for the shoulder and neck edges. I wanted to have a clean finish on all the edges and not fiddle with hemming them. To do this, I sewed the front bodice to the front skirt, leaving the center seam unsewn. I then sewed the front to back at the shoulders.

   

                    

Dress back at the bottom of the frame and the separate front pieces are at the top. 

I made the facing by copying the bodice front and back pattern pieces so the top is a double layer. My fabric is very light so it is not bulky. I then sewed the shoulder seams together. I pinned them right sides together to the dress and sewed the neckline and armholes leaving the lower portions open for turning. My Afro Diva Pincushion is supervising every step of the way.

                              

After turning, I opened out the seams and sewed them right sides together, end to end closing all the seams. I tacked the facing to the dress at the side seams and a few places along the waist seam to prevent rolling.

At this point, I tried it on and liked the fit without the elastic casing so I left it out. I liked the slight nip at the waist without the feel of the bunching there.

                                                                 

I have littles who love leg hugs and cuddles. a center front slit is not a good idea. I shifted it to the right side and hemmed it with a twin needle.

                         

I love a racerback and this one is defined, yet provides great bra coverage.

                       

This fabric is luscious and feels wonderful! Thank you to those of you who voted for my bias strip skirt in the PR contest. I used my prize gift certificate to purchase this and 17 pounds of wonderful fabric from Fabric Mart.

                               

It is my first purchase from the site and I am pretty pleased. The fabric quality, shipping and customer service was all great. With the end of Hancock Fabrics, this is a welcome find.

                            

While I have your ear, I have entered a Facebook contest that is based on "likes". Why as an introvert I would enter a popularity contest is still nuts to me, but I am stretching myself. Anyway, I would really appreciate it if you would risk the political and racial posts of friends and acquaintances and vote for my dress by "liking" it. 

This is the link to make my day :) by voting for my Alabama Chanin Handsewn dress.

Thanks and Happy Sewing,
Bianca