I’m so ready for summer. And with that summer dresses. I ordered some floral rayon poplin prints from Telio brand and pulled out my favorite M7406. Since I love the ease and simplicity of wrap dresses. Also, the fabric for this project ‘Picasso‘ in teal has been lovely to work with and wear. I didn’t need to line it which I always appreciate.
For the dress I cut out view ‘B’ in a size 6. My measurements are currently Bust: 31in Waist: 24in Hip: 34in and I’m 5’2″. The pattern I have goes up to a size 14 with a Bust of 39in and a Hip of 41.5in. But it also comes in additional sizes to a 22. Ive been looking at all the chic French dresses on Rouje lately. Seeing so many summer dresses with a slightly longer sleeve. So after that there were couple modifications I made to the pattern. Firstly with the sleeve, I shortened the length 2in below the lengthen/shorten mark on view B. However, still using a channel and elastic to create the gathered hem of the sleeve. Overall, I am really happy with how it turned out.
Secondly, I modified the wrap of the pattern. This pattern has ties that secure on the inside with a belt on the outside. I prefer a true wrap dress. For example, one with a channel on one side for the tie to go through. My dress ties on the left, so my channel is on the right side. With the long tie wrapping through the right side, around the back and tying together on the left. To start the channel I separately serged each right side of the front and back pieces. This is to protect the edges from fraying. After that I stitched both sides together leaving a 1.25in hole at the waist. Once finished I pressed my seams open. Finally, I stitched around the opening to hold the seams flat and give some stability.
To create the straps that would pass through the channel I used the belt pattern piece from M7406. I love the width of the tie and how fluffy the bow is. Instead of sewing the two belt pieces together I extended one and left them separate to work as ties. For the left side tie, which is the longer of the two, I added 12in to the existing belt pattern. To clarify the tie on the left side goes through the channel on the right side of the dress. It then wraps around the back waist and ties on the left side. My finished left side tie measures 48in. The finished right side tie measures 36in. I sewed both ties into the seam and topstitched down with the hem.
The rest of the pattern I sewed as per the instructions. Using bias tape for the neckline and I didn’t alter the length of the dress. Its an adorable dress and I’m thrilled with how it looks. I will say it is super hard to get a good photograph of the color of the dress. The deep teal color looks richer in person.
