Project Sewn Week Two: ‘Make it Pink’ – McCall’s M6553

It’s week two of Project Sewn, the online sewing bloggers knockout sewing competition and this week’s challenge is ‘Make it Pink’. It’s really nice that us voters get to join in the fun by posting our makes too!

I made this McCall’s M6553 dress, one of the Fashion Star pattern series, last summer but didn’t get round to blogging about it. This Project Sewn pink theme has given me the perfect opportunity to clear some of the back log from my blogging in-tray and slip this unseasonal make into my winter posts!

It’s a case of – ‘here’s one I made earlier!’

I was attracted to this dress pattern by the relaxed fit of the pull-on-over-your-head style, the princess seam shaping, the pleated back and the shaped hemline. The combination of these features make this dress shape quite unusual and unique IMO.

I particularly like the contrast between the feminine bow of the belt in the front and the box pleated, loosely draping back. I think the overall shape of the dress is body skimming and flattering. Well at least Beatrice, my dress-form looks good in it!

There isn’t a zip to deal with or buttonholes or anything else that you could imagine to be complicated, it’s just an easy to sew-up loose fitting dress that gets it shape from the waist cinching belt that threads behind the back piece and ties in a bow at the front. Plus it has side-seam pockets so you can slouch like me!

There is a neck slit on the back bodice piece that closes with a button and thread loop. I’d never done a thread loop before this dress, but I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to do.

One word of warning about this dress – it is quite short. I’d read many online pattern reviews of this before I made it so I knew this. To compensate, I added five centimetres to the length.

However, I still found the dress short, so ended up doing a hand-stitched lace hem finish because I didn’t want to lose anymore length. The finished length is still above my knees and I’m only 162cm tall!

As a bonus though, I like the way the lace peaks out on the uneven hem of the back of the dress. It’s added another cute detail to the finished dress.

Another word of warning – this pattern is very loose fitting! I made the smallest size six, which is a smaller size than I would normally choose from the big four pattern companies.

I made this dress out of pale pink cotton gabardine bought from Anita Pavani online.  It’s a firm fabric that holds the shape of the pleat and bow quite nicely.

All in all this pattern got my thumbs up! It hasn’t become one of my summer staples, but it is a fun dress to wear occasionally!

The Project Sewn contestants have made another stellar effort this week with this week’s theme- there are some really knockout clothes and images, so if you haven’t voted for your favourite pink outfit yet, then I suggest you go and do it right away young lady!

Happy voting!