McCall's 6886 Or ANOTHER floral dress!

 Ok, so I had no idea until today, August 24, 2014 that all the dresses I make that are floral print remind my husband of his great aunt who practically raised him when he was a youngster.  How did I find out?  Well, I went to ask what he thought of my new dress and he gave me the story of his aunt and how he'd have to go to lunch with her and her 'old lady friends' at places that serve food buffet style and how the dress I made reminded me of her.  What's wrong with this?  I am pretty sure his great aunt was in her 80's and I was thinking the dress was pretty cute until that remark.  I mean the fit is great and I was super proud of how well my neckline turned out.  On another note, I noticed how many floral dresses I've made lately and I am thinking I do nothing but make my husband think of his great aunt Della.

So, back to the pattern and dress....
This is a very well drafted pattern.  It fits great with just enough ease to make it comfortable and not tight or restrictive at all.  I love the shaping at the waistline...not too much nor too little.  The length is awesome, a few inches above my knee which is perfect as well.  I also love the neckline options.  High neck, lower neck and a v-neck.  I made the lower neck, obviously.  I also love the sleeve variations and length variations that make this pattern versatile and a classic.



What is really awesome is that my fabric was left over and in my stash so this makes the dress basically free, right?

What I am proud of is how I finished the neckline.  What I did was to do the following:
1. Sew just one side of the shoulder seam
2. Staystitch the neckline
3. Attach stay tape to the RIGHT side of the neckline to further stabilize it
4. Attach the bias cut neckline's right side to the neckband's wrong side
5. Trim any staytape that is showing on the neckline's right side
6. Trim the seamline for the neckband seam to about 1/8"
7. Press the seam towards the neckband
8. Pin the neckband over the seamline and stitch with a stretch stitch a few millimeters from the edge
Check out your amazing work!

Also notice how clean the neckline is on the inside as well as the outside!!!!

Ok, so I like the dress better with the black belt rather than the sliver chain belt.  DH suggested the silver chain but I think the black gives it a nice contrast.  Believe it or not, I did my usual 1/2" swayback adjustment and I still have some wrinkles on the backside!  Argh!  Next time I will have to make a deeper swayback if I use this stretchy of fabric for this dress again.

This is a great pattern.  Just make sure that your significant other doesn't think about his great aunts when you choose your fabric.  If you think I look younger than 80 while wearing this dress, I'd love to hear it!

As always, thanks for reading!
Sue :)