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A Cotton + Steel Shirt Dress [McCall’s 6696]

Hello, friends!

Yes, I’m on a roll lately with dresses as I’m currently working on my vacation wardrobe and have my own private Project Runway going on.

m6696 1

This, friends, is McCall’s 6696, the ubiquitous shirt dress known to me as “The Mary Dress.”  When I first saw Mary make this dress last summer, I knew it had to go on my list.  A proper shirt dress with all the accouterments generally reserved men’s shirts plus a pleated skirt?  I’m there!  I’ve made several shirt dress patterns over the years and have always lamented the lack of a yoke and at times a neck band.  Most women’s shirt dress patterns have facings which I generally loathe.  This pattern, however, has all the things that are great about a men’s button-up shirt with the added femininity of a skirt.

[source: McCall’s Patterns]

I opted to make View A of this dress, which is the sleeveless version with a full skirt.  I’ve actually been planning to make this dress for several months now and have finally succumbed to it.  I think most of the reason why I put it off was that I assumed this dress would take me a while to make.  It really only took about 2 days to finish it.  That doesn’t include cutting it out, as I had it cut out a week before I started sewing it.  I’m also not a very fast sewer nor am I quick at cutting patterns out.

m6696 2

Speaking of fabric… when I was cutting out this border print fabric I was under the impression that I was a fabric cutting bad ass, when it actuality, I made a big mistake….  While working around the border print, I cut the front bodice piece on the same side of the fabric.  Basically, I had two of the same piece.  As I didn’t have enough fabric left to cut another piece, I had to order more to replace it.

dressform collage 1

dressform 2

My fabric is the Cotton+Steel Mustang border print in mint that I purchased from Fabric.com last summer.  When I had my little fabric snafu, I didn’t want to order more from Fabric.com as the shipping is verrrrrry slow.  Instead, I ordered some from Harts Fabrics as Hart’s ships quickly and I usually get my orders in a couple of days.  Unfortunately, Harts was out of the C+S fabric and called me after I placed my order.  I told them the story of my foolish cutting dilemma and they pointed me towards this Michael Miller Glitz metallic border print that matched my original fabric.  I scooped some up then sat at my cutting table for half an hour figuring out the best way to use the alternate fabric with my existing pieces.  In the end, I decided to recut the back bodice piece as well as the front so that they matched and blended together.  The Michael Miller fabric is a slightly lighter cotton although they are almost identical in color.

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I didn’t do any fitting with this dress before I had it sewn up.  This was mostly as I normally don’t have to do much with shirt dress patterns and I didn’t want my bodice to be close-fitting.  I graded this up to a size 26 and used the D-cup pieces as per my bra size.  Well…. I ended up with a bodice that had huge armscyes and there was a lot of extra fabric in the bust area, which led me to believe that this bodice could have accommodated a more well endowed lass than I.  I took about 1 1/2″ from each side seam, tapering down to the waistband.  I had finished my armscyes with bias tape already, and just serged the seams with a little hand-stitching.  I adjusted the bust darts as well, and ended up with a fit that was far better than before.  When I make this again, I think I either need to go down a size when I cut my bodice or use smaller cup pieces.

back

I didn’t do my usual swayback adjustment as I believed that it wouldn’t matter with the back gathers.  Well, I do need one, and may just go back and alter this dress again now that I see how much is going on back there.  The pattern has a lot of room back there as I imagine the design means to resemble a tucked in blouse.  I like this feature, but I’ve got a bit too much excess fabric in this dress.

DSCN1638

I loved this fabric from first sight and just love the retro flowers on the border.  I tried to incorporate them more in my dress and was able to use some on the back yoke and for the carriers.  Speaking of the carriers, I’m not sure if it’s my fault, but it seems like there should be two more on the front of the dress.  I’ve looked at other versions of this pattern, and others have carriers on the front, so it is most likely my fault, which I will amend the next time I make this.  It doesn’t bother me too much as the back and side carriers keep my belt in my place and the front of my belt doesn’t seem to move around.  Also, I could probably go without a belt and I don’t think it would be as noticeable as there are no front carriers.

m6696 close

The gals on Instagram suggested gold buttons for this dress, and yes, they sure look great with the gold metallic dots on my fabric.  I don’t think I’ve ever worn a metallic dress and hoped this wouldn’t be “too much”.  I’ve been assured that it’s not.  If it is, oh well. I’ll be that girl in the flashy gold polka dotted dress and I like it. 🙂

m6696 last

Snowball likes to pop in on my “photo-shoots” occasionally

Another note, the skirt piece for this pattern is drafted in a circular fashion.  As I wanted to use my border print on the bottom edge, my skirt is cut rectangular to allow for that design to show through.  So, if you’re wondering how to use this pattern for a border print (or a fabric with a scalloped or finished edge), that’s how I did it.  Also, as I added some length to my skirt, I forgot to also add length to the button bands (oops!).  I added some fabric after the fact, sewing my newly cut pieces to the existing bands.

fabric

Happy Sewing!

signature

  • Dress:  McCall’s 6696 in Cotton + Steel Mustang border print and Michael Miller glitz border print, made by me
  • Belt: Macy’s
  • Shoes:  Aerosoles

Comments

  1. I love this fabric! and the buttons and they way you combined them. I started sewing recently and I used this pattern to make a black denim dress with with top stitching. Denim is too hot though…

  4. What a beautiful dress. You look amazing in it. This is such a good pattern. Really need to give it a go. Oh and Snowball is a beauty. Xx

  6. Such a lovely dress! I would have guessed that the two prints were from the same collection- its amazing that they are not related in any way yet they work so gorgeously together. 🙂

  7. The dress turned out beautiful! I think the cutting error is a happy mistake, because the use of the second fabric for the bodice really sets the dress off. Love the border print on the yoke as well.

  8. I love this dress. It’s a great color on you and that C&S fabric is fantastic! You always do such amazing work.

  9. Beautiful! Argh with cutting errors…it’s always a smack in the head, but the additional fabric works really well with the Cotton and Steel. I love the shirtdress style, but I’ve only ever made a knit version which is really only a fall/winter piece for me. This clearly needs to be amended. Thank you for more shirtdressy inspiration!

    • Yes, I hate making cutting errors! I usually don’t cut anything until I have it all layed out and pinned, but working with the border print had me cutting things differently. Shirt dresses are so great to wear, aren’t they? I don’t have a knit one, so perhaps I need to amend that!

  10. Beautiful.. I love the border print, you did a good job matching the two.. Just turned out perfect. .It looks so pretty on you.
    Hope you have a nice vacation.

    • Thanks, Laura! Oh, I just love their fabrics. So many cool and interesting designs. I can’t wait to see what you’re making with them!

  13. Ahhhh so lovely! Opening up the post immediately reminded me of the yardage (x2 fabrics) I have to make this pattern again. And here I was, wondering what to start making today!

    Re: the carriers – Mary noted in one of her posts that there should be more, so I think everyone who made it with more (including me) just made extra.

    • Thanks, Sophie-Lee! I love this pattern on you, too, and can’t wait to see another!

      I’ll remember about the carriers when I make this again.

  14. This is another winner of a shirtdress for you! I can’t even tell that there’s a slight difference in color between the skirt and bodice on my laptop. I did notice a difference in the dots, but until you pointed it out, I just figured that it was a gradient feature from working with a border print.

  15. Very cute! I may have to try this pattern myself–I love the pleats. And that’s some great customer service from Hart’s; sounds like they have some knowledgeable and skilled folks there.

    • Thank you!!! Yes, I love ordering from Hart’s. You can find a lot of their fabrics cheaper elsewhere, but they ship fast and have wonderful people helping you there.

  18. Oh Tanya! Your dress is so gorgeous! I love it so much. I’ve looked at both border prints that you used and drooled over them. Mint and gold are probably my favourite combos and I have nothing except jewelry in these colours! I feel like we have a serious lack of mint fabric here! The dress looks so lovely. Definitely not too much with the gold buttons. They are perfect. 🙂

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Mrs. Hughes: A retro inspired, vintage garment sewing and plus-size dressmaking blog by Tanya Maile Hughes.