Change of a Dress

McCall's 7742 ©2018 looked enough like the dresses I've been making this year that I decided to get a copy when it was on sale

The photographed view,with its ¾ ribbon-tied sleeves is cute, but the point of making the loose floaty dresses is so they can be worn comfortably in the stinkin' hot summer, so sleeves were out.

I picked some overprinted madras--another bit of yardage from the person dealing with a relative's stash--and laid it out to be cut...where it stayed for a week or so.  It stayed ~ready to go~ for so long that the forecast looked like it was going to finally catch up to the calendar, so I hustled to make it to wear before the temperatures dropped.

 I am...ambivalent.

The dress is very straightforward and easy to sew and I should have known something would be off about the result because there is no interfacing involved in the neckline.

 (Yes of course the topstitching was entirely my idea.)

There's interfacing in the sleeve cuffs, though

 and when I first put the dress on after finishing it, I thought the stiffness and bulk of the cuffs was going to make the dress too annoying to wear.  I got used to them quickly, though, which meant the "make it annoying to wear" candidate changed to how little gathering there was in the back

 That's it, just those two-ish inches of gathering

I felt like it was pulling the pockets to the back, but they were sitting where they're supposed to be, so it was only a feeling.

 (Hi! Pockets!  And I had enough of the same cloth, so the pockets aren't a contrast fabric this time!)

Honestly, I think I chose too light-weight a fabric for this--people on IG have been dismayed by the results when the fabric is too heavy, so I let that influence my fabric choice.

Being so thin meant that it went through the 3/16" hem roller with absolutely no problems at the seams, though

 I like all of the colors in this except for the very prominent yellow (although, as far as yellows go, it's the kind I like), and I even have a pair of shoes that match the mauve tones.  The problem is, the shoes are all cloth, a soft wool blend, and, when worn with this dress, the resulting Look™ is "hospital gown with slippers."  So.

I'm calling this a success in the "it will be miserably hot again next summer and I'll have to wear something then" category, but not so much in the "aaahhh this is so cute I'm so glad I made it!!!" category.  But!  I may try in again in a slightly ore substantial fabric, and maybe even with the longer sleeves, and then wear it as much as possible for the short amount of time things are not miserably hot.