Hello all, this week I have made a summer dress for my brand ambassador project and had the chance to wear it too with some fabulous sunny weather. My choice of fabric this time was the lovely cool and breezy stripe, cotton seersucker in brown. I say brown but with the white stripe it looks more of a beige and nice and light for the sunny weather. This fabric is available in twelve colours so you will find your favourite in there.

It washes and dries really well, just hang to dry and hardly takes any time at all mainly due to the lightweight nature, do keep in mind though that this does give it a transparent look so will either need to be lined or paired with camis or other slips if making as a stand alone dress.

The composition is 50% cotton and 50% polyester, I do like a lot of natural materials but this half and half blend is good for me.

Regarding pattern pairing, I chose the McCalls 7950, this is a lovely traditional summer dress look and you have the option to vary the look. I went for view C the classic look and as this pattern has double pieces for all of the bodice that sorted the tranparency issue there.

When making the skirt, I also cut out the skirt panels in a lightweight crepe in cream that I already had. To add this to the dress I stitched it in when I floded back the front facing and then gathered it togther with the outer skirt before adding it to the bodice. I did make the lining a little shorter than the outside skirt.

I had a fun time hunting through my buttons trying to gather together enough of the same kind for the front. As I sew a lot I often end up with lots of packets with just one in, or just a slightly different shade. In this case I had just enough white and cream of the same kind and size. If you flip them over they are often a very similar shade, alternate them and it looks like this was a design feature all along. I do hate waste!

Another detail to watch out for is the placement of the straps, do try on before attaching your skirt to bodice on the inside as you can shorten the straps at this point to get them perfect. Also if you are of fuller bust and always need a sturdy bra why not consider making the straps wider and trying with your favourite bra for placement to ensure the straps are fully hidden.

I found this to be a really comfortable dress, the fabric doesn't get creased while wearing making it an ideal choice for a holiday wardrobe, it is cool and the pattern is one that I will return to many times in the future. Thank you Minerva for the chance to try it out. Happy sewing everyone. #minervamaker #minervabrandambassador #SewnShownSeated

#minervamakes #seersucker #summerdresses #mccalls7950