Happy Easter! I hope everyone had an egg-cellent Easter! Ours was egg-ceptional.
While I adore novelty fabric, I don't often make holiday dresses. I don't like having the deadline and feeling like, "if I don't finish this dress by Sunday, I won't be able to wear it for a year". Ever the temptress, JoAnn frequently provides a deep discount on holiday fabric, making it nearly impossible to resist. This year, I compromised. I stocked up on holiday fabric with the intention to make wearable muslins. Basically, a practice run before remaking the dress with a more expensive fabric. It helps that this egg fabric came out to be cheaper than traditional muslin fabric -- I bought four yards of it for less than $10! You could say that I didn't have to hunt for this egg fabric.
I made this dress using McCall's 6696 and an Easter cotton from JoAnn. I made view A. I don't typically wear belts with dresses, so I left off the carriers for a cleaner look. Otherwise, I made no changes! This was my first time sewing knife pleats around an entire skirt. While I prefer fuller skirts with deeper pleats, I appreciate that this dress came together quickly and didn't require too much fabric (about 3.5 yards of 45").
I love the defined waistband of this skirt; however, with no buttons in the waistband, it tends to gape slightly. I suppose this is why the pattern includes carriers for a belt! I'm planning to sew a hook and eye to prevent this. The next time I sew this dress, I'll likely shift the buttons on either side of the waistband a bit closer to provide more coverage.
As I mentioned, a wearable muslin is akin to a practice run. So what am I practicing for? Let me tell you!
In short, this lovely national parks fabric from Riley Blake! I adore this fabric and chose this pattern as a nod to safari style dresses. At ~$10 a yard, I definitely wanted to be familiar with the pattern before cutting into this fabric. Mission accomplished. This wearable muslin egg-ceeds all egg-spectations. Updates to come for this national parks dress!
