Pattern Review: McCall's 6320 (aka The Green Dress)

Finally - finally! - I managed to snare the Galumph and get him to take some pics of me in my green dress. It's only been finished since mid-December, and here we are mid-January. In a brand new year. Yikes!

Still, better late than never. I used McCall's 6320, view B. As far a patterns go, this was a pretty easy dress to sew up, but as far as projects go it was a bit of a palaver. Firstly I couldn't find any lining anywhere to match the fabric. Green is always hard to get a good match with at the best of times, but after visiting 4 different fabric stores this began to be a bit of a joke! In the end I settled for a light avocado rayon lining, and resolved that if anybody had the nerve to point out the lining didn't match the dress then I would answer with supreme disdain "Dude - design feature. It's meant to look like that. Scoff!"

Thankfully this so far hasn't occurred. I'm AWESOME with the dripping disdain in the privacy of my own loungeroom, but not so flash with it in real life.

I also had a wee bit of trouble getting a zipper to match. The pattern called for a regular zipper, but I decided to throw caution to the wind and go the invisible. Which thankfully turned out to actually be invisible, so you can't tell that it, too, is a weird avocado colour. I just need to make sure I don't wave my arms in the air a lot and reveal the mismatching pull tab. That's a challenge for an arm-waver like me, but if I just keep my hands in my pockets then I shouldn't run into too much trouble!

Oooooh! That's another thing - I love the pockets! As you can probably tell by the pics. I did try and find an image of me without my hands in them, but alas, no cigar. I love the shape the pleats/pocket combination gives to the skirt. It gives the illusion of a smaller waist and hides the tummy flab. Win win!

This pattern gives you the different bust size options, which is great if your figure isn't standard (and let's face it, whose is? I'm usually an 8 in the bust, a 14(!!!) in the waist and a 10 in the hips. Go figure!) All in all, it's one heck of a cute dress, in possibly one of the best colours around. I wear mine during the day, but I could see it being ahhhmazing made up in a gold brocade or a deep red duchess satin as a sassy little cocktail number. Ack - so many sewing possibilities, so little time!

Project Details
Pattern: McCall's 6320, made up in size 8
Fabric: 1.6m Donna Karan stretch cotton from The Fabric Store, plus 0.80m rayon lining for bodice
Notions: 35cm invisible zipper