Wrap Dress Sewalong - Butterick 6054

Well hello hello! The sun has finally decided to come back and play and here I am along with it! I miss making and sharing. And hopefully I can dedicate more time to both. I didn't even post my pics from NOLA yet lool That was in February.

**Before I start, I just wanted to say, i'll be in LA/Long Beach April 10-15th if anyone wants to hang out in the garment district or just meet-up for some food or something! email me thetelltaletasha@gmail.com

But anyway, the last time I talked about sewing, I mentioned that I went up to NY and got a tour of The McCall Company. Well, while I was there, Meg offered me a choice of some fabric! I picked this really pretty multicolored knit that they had from Jo-Ann fabrics. I picked it because it was the most pratical of the bunch and I could make something out of it that could get a lot of wear (shoutout to my 2015 goals). McCall's had recently announced the wrap dress sewalong and I noticed that the end date was right after Easter so it was like the stars were aligning lol


This wrap dress is Butterick 6054. I cut a straight size 12. I found it on the Wrap Dress Pinterest Board. When I was looking for one to make, I knew that I wanted an ACTUAL wrap dress, and I knew that I didn't want a skirt that flared to much. I loved that it didn't have separate sleeves too. I almost got V8379, but I didn't know how the skirt was going to fall. But after seeing the version that Meg made for her niece, I think I'm going to pick it up soon.

Speaking of fabric, this fabric from JoAnn's is SOOOOO soft! I mean soft, like "wearable pajamas" soft. It is described as a "watercolor pastel knit rayon spandex".  I was nervous when I started sewing with it because I thought it might stretch out a bunch because of it's softness but it didn't! And it pressed REALLY really well. That was another surprise. This pattern had so many dag on pleats in it I had marks and pins all over the place. But once I pressed them down, they weren't going anywhere. The fabric is opaque and the dress is unlined. I still wore a skirt slip under it to church though but I didn't have to. I just want to emphasize one more time how soft the fabric is... SOFT.

Speaking of MARKS. This pattern had a lot of pattern pieces and SOOO many marks to make. I knew I wouldn't be able to mark on the fabric with pencil because it was a bit too soft for that and I definitely didn't want to use my fabric PEN out of just fear lol. So I decided it was time for me to learn how to make Tailor's Tacks. I bought the "Couture Dressmaking Techniques" class from Craftsy on one of the 19.99 sales and Alison Smith taught me how to make them. Ridiculously EASY. I should have been doing them a long time ago. "The more you know". I got the most even darts I've ever sewn using them.

Construction-wise, from cutting the fabric to hemming, this dress took me 3 nights to make. For both front wrap facings, I did not interface them. Well I did, but with self-fabric. I don't have knit interfacing so, yea. Also, the pattern calls for a snap and hook where the front wrap meets the side of the other front wrap but I didn't add those. Mostly because it was late and I didn't feel like it but also because I didn't want the fabric to pull ... it's really soft lol

I also did not hem the skirt (shoutout to my rotary cutter). The skirt was the perfect length and I did not want to take anymore away. Plus I did not want the curved part of the skirt to stretch out at all.  I did add a snap at the wrap over the bust to keep from any flashing. Definitely glad I did that too, because although it's secure when standing, sitting different ways offers a lot of flashing potential lol.

The last modification I made was instead of turning the facing (for the wraps across the bust) in, I let it work as a hem band. I REALLY like the way it looks but I did it because I didn't want to show as much cleavage as I would have been.

The pleats on the skirt got to be a pain to sew through because it made SO many layers. And the instructions on all of the facings were a bit confusing to me. I want to make this pattern again and I have decided that I will do them in a different order. Especially since I'm using the neck facing as a band instead of a facing... I have a vision lol

I really love the wrap dress style. I like V neck styles in general. They make my bust look less FULL than boat neck styles. I don't really need that area more magnified than it already is lol
Anyway, I really like this dress because it can slide for literally any occasion. I already wore it to church, I plan on wearing it to work, I can wear it on a date, or it can fly on a casual outing with my friends. I plan on making a couple more if I can find some good fabric.

In true Easter fashion, my mom wanted to match with me lol So out of the LITTLE fabric I had left (started with 3 yds) I made her a tank top. She really loved it and now she wants a bunch of tank tops lool.

I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend! I celebrated the resurrection of Jesus and had an awesome time with my family. :-)


This has been super long so I'm gonna cut it off lol How did you celebrate the holiday? Did you join the sewalong??

xoxo,
Tasha

**I was gifted the fabric for review. I was also gifted the pattern but just because the people at McCall's are really nice. Everything I've said is da truf.**