4 years ago
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - I am obsessed with the prairie chic trend in fashion right now. It pierces right through my vintage loving, americana inspired, Anne of Green Gables wanna-be heart. The 7998 dress from McCall’s might be my favorite pattern they’ve ever released - so much so that I (gasp!) paid full price for it*.
Even though the styling on the pattern envelope got mixed reactions - I was obsessed. I LOVE the sleeves, the fabric is beautiful, the ruffles are everything, and oooh boy do I want her ring and boots asap. Basically, I needed an exact replica of the sample in my closet ASAP.
When Minerva sent me their fabric list, I knew immediately that this polyester crepe would be the perfect choice. The print is gorgeous, small scale, and the color is lovely. It’s hard to tell online, but it is in fact a true navy (which happens to be in my true summer color palette). The fabric is also relatively inexpensive - which is something to keep in mind with this pattern because it calls for a lot of yardage. With the bodice and skirt both cut on the bias, plus Victorian-style sleeves and two tiers of ruffles, it adds up to almost four meters of fabric.
But holy moly, I’m so pleased with it. And the fabric was a dream to work with - my favorite from Minerva to date. The bubble crepe gives the fabric a little grip, which makes it easy to accurately sew seams. It drapes like a rayon, but handles more like a cotton. And since it’s a poly, I have yet to deal with any wrinkles. In hindsight, I’m especially glad for this because with over 4 meters of fabric, ironing the finished dress sounds would have been a nightmare (and probably kept me from wearing it much).
Based on my measurements, I cut a size eight and started with a muslin of the bodice and skirt panels. I highly recommend doing this, because the ONLY shaping in the front bodice are the two front pleats. Since I am small busted, this made it easy to adjust as I am typically removing or reducing darts anyway. However, if you are curvy there is a good chance you need to adjust these pieces to add more shaping.
For me (again, small bust), I needed to reduce the width of the pleats (by ½”) and make them taller (2”). I also had to remove 2” of length along the neckline, an adjustment that is sometimes referred to as a hollow chest adjustment (thank you, to whoever gave it such a flattering name). This change keeps the neckline from gaping on me, and removes yet more fabric from the front bodice.
Finally, the other change I made was to do a broad shoulder adjustment (¼”) in response to some pulling on my bicep when I lifted my arms forward. This is a very common fit issue for me, and one I have not managed to figure out until now. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’ve done narrow shoulder adjustments based on absolutely nothing except the fact that I’m thin and it seemed like a logical assumption to make. Wrong! So I decided this time to try the tiniest of broad shoulder adjustments (and used the added width at the shoulder seam to create a small shoulder dart) and OH MY GOODNESS IT’S SO MUCH MORE COMFORTABLE. Fitting break-through! Which just goes to show that fitting is not always intuitive, and we can get ourselves into trouble when we make presumptions about the “root” of our fit issues.
As for the pattern itself, the set of instructions is one of the more difficult ones I’ve encountered. I’m guessing that this is because it’s a licensed Laura Ashley pattern? I’m not sure, but I mention it only to say that I would not attempt this unless you are a fairly confident sewer. You are on your own as far as when to finish seams, staystitch, etc. The hem instructions are also pretty strange and I found myself using my own methods instead.
My favorite part of this process was learning how to construct a sleeve head. Have you guys ever sewn or heard of a sleeve head? I hadn’t. Basically, it’s a small piece of fabric you insert into the sleeve cap to help keep the cap from collapsing. I guess it’s fairly common in coats to maintain the shape of a nice jacket, but it was also used widely in 80s fashion to achieve that iconic power shoulder look.
I ultimately decided to leave these out of my final garment , but BOY did I have fun learning how to do it and trying it out for fun. I took a photo so you can see the different results - I think we can agree that it was a little too much drama with the sleeve head? At least for the relaxed look I wanted, anyway.
Anywho, thank you as always to Minerva for gifting me this fabric. It was a joy to sew with and to share the finished project!
*I live in the United States where the Big Four patterns regularly go on sale for $2.
#M7998 #McCalls7998 #LauraAshley #polyestercrepe
Even though the styling on the pattern envelope got mixed reactions - I was obsessed. I LOVE the sleeves, the fabric is beautiful, the ruffles are everything, and oooh boy do I want her ring and boots asap. Basically, I needed an exact replica of the sample in my closet ASAP.
When Minerva sent me their fabric list, I knew immediately that this polyester crepe would be the perfect choice. The print is gorgeous, small scale, and the color is lovely. It’s hard to tell online, but it is in fact a true navy (which happens to be in my true summer color palette). The fabric is also relatively inexpensive - which is something to keep in mind with this pattern because it calls for a lot of yardage. With the bodice and skirt both cut on the bias, plus Victorian-style sleeves and two tiers of ruffles, it adds up to almost four meters of fabric.
But holy moly, I’m so pleased with it. And the fabric was a dream to work with - my favorite from Minerva to date. The bubble crepe gives the fabric a little grip, which makes it easy to accurately sew seams. It drapes like a rayon, but handles more like a cotton. And since it’s a poly, I have yet to deal with any wrinkles. In hindsight, I’m especially glad for this because with over 4 meters of fabric, ironing the finished dress sounds would have been a nightmare (and probably kept me from wearing it much).
Based on my measurements, I cut a size eight and started with a muslin of the bodice and skirt panels. I highly recommend doing this, because the ONLY shaping in the front bodice are the two front pleats. Since I am small busted, this made it easy to adjust as I am typically removing or reducing darts anyway. However, if you are curvy there is a good chance you need to adjust these pieces to add more shaping.
For me (again, small bust), I needed to reduce the width of the pleats (by ½”) and make them taller (2”). I also had to remove 2” of length along the neckline, an adjustment that is sometimes referred to as a hollow chest adjustment (thank you, to whoever gave it such a flattering name). This change keeps the neckline from gaping on me, and removes yet more fabric from the front bodice.
Finally, the other change I made was to do a broad shoulder adjustment (¼”) in response to some pulling on my bicep when I lifted my arms forward. This is a very common fit issue for me, and one I have not managed to figure out until now. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’ve done narrow shoulder adjustments based on absolutely nothing except the fact that I’m thin and it seemed like a logical assumption to make. Wrong! So I decided this time to try the tiniest of broad shoulder adjustments (and used the added width at the shoulder seam to create a small shoulder dart) and OH MY GOODNESS IT’S SO MUCH MORE COMFORTABLE. Fitting break-through! Which just goes to show that fitting is not always intuitive, and we can get ourselves into trouble when we make presumptions about the “root” of our fit issues.
As for the pattern itself, the set of instructions is one of the more difficult ones I’ve encountered. I’m guessing that this is because it’s a licensed Laura Ashley pattern? I’m not sure, but I mention it only to say that I would not attempt this unless you are a fairly confident sewer. You are on your own as far as when to finish seams, staystitch, etc. The hem instructions are also pretty strange and I found myself using my own methods instead.
My favorite part of this process was learning how to construct a sleeve head. Have you guys ever sewn or heard of a sleeve head? I hadn’t. Basically, it’s a small piece of fabric you insert into the sleeve cap to help keep the cap from collapsing. I guess it’s fairly common in coats to maintain the shape of a nice jacket, but it was also used widely in 80s fashion to achieve that iconic power shoulder look.
I ultimately decided to leave these out of my final garment , but BOY did I have fun learning how to do it and trying it out for fun. I took a photo so you can see the different results - I think we can agree that it was a little too much drama with the sleeve head? At least for the relaxed look I wanted, anyway.
Anywho, thank you as always to Minerva for gifting me this fabric. It was a joy to sew with and to share the finished project!
*I live in the United States where the Big Four patterns regularly go on sale for $2.
#M7998 #McCalls7998 #LauraAshley #polyestercrepe