McCalls 6612 -- Take Two: The Snowflake Dress

After making the Molecule Dress for myself, it was time to make something for my daughter.  She had chosen some black sweater-knit fabric with snowflakes on it, and wanted a cowl-neck dress.  I used the same pattern as the Molecule Dress -- McCalls 6612, but this time made View D, adding the long sleeves to it.

For my daughter I cut a straight size 10, adding length to the dress and the sleeves (I added more than 3 inches to the sleeve length!! -- this is why it is very difficult to find ready-to-wear winter tops that will fit her).  Several patterns that I've used recently instruct you to hem the sleeves before they are attached to the dress.  This seems like a bad idea to me (how do you know where to hem them until the shoulders are seamed up?), so I have disregarded the instructions on that and hemmed them AFTER the sleeves are in.

I had not sewn with sweater-knit fabric before, but actually it was pretty easy.  The fabric is not slippery, so it tends to stay where you put it.  Also the thickness of the fabric hides the stitching lines;) I used a size 80 universal needle, regular sewing thread, and a machine setting of a short, narrow zigzag.  I also used my knit stay tape when turning up the hems of the sleeves and the bottom.  Again, if you are sewing with knits, this stay tape will make your sewing life soooo much easier.  It's not expensive -- get some!

The cowl on this dress is large, which is good for cold weather.  The print and the cowl neck do make it difficult to determine which is the front and the back, so I hand-sewed a small piece of red embroidery thread to the inside of the back neckline.

This is a great pattern and a useful dress:  it keeps you warm and it can be rolled up and packed in a suitcase and then taken out and worn straightaway.  But because it is a sweater-knit, you do need to wear a little half-slip to keep the skirt from sticking to your tights.

(And yes, we need some more snow to cover up the non-existent grass in my backyard.)