McCalls 6559 -- Black and White Maxi

Squinting into the sun

I made this dress at the very beginning of June.  I was away from home most of the month and I wanted to take this dress with me.  The pattern is McCalls 6559, and it was ranked as one of the Best Patterns of 2012 at Pattern Review.  I have to agree since this is the fourth time I've made it myself (here are versions one, two and three), which is a little surprising since the pattern is really just one basic design.  But, with the exception of my version two, which has been relegated to a swimsuit coverup, I wear the other three all the time.  I wear the short silver one with a pink denim jacket and I wear the two maxis just as they are.

I love to wear maxi dresses.  They are so comfortable and cool, they look nice, and you don't have to worry about what your legs look like.  Long live the maxi!

This particular dress is view F the stripe version, but minus the appliqued star.  I had been wanting a dress like this since last summer but had to wait to find a suitable fabric.  On my one trip to Golden D'or I picked up some black T-shirt-like fabric and some black-and-white brushed knit fabric, both from the remnant table.  There was not enough of either one to make a whole dress, but I thought it would be fun to combine the stripe manipulation with the black and white trend.

The front is mostly striped, with one black panel.  It is very difficult to photograph stripes, especially narrow ones, so here are a couple of close-ups.

The back is solid black.  I did have to piece the back because the fabric wasn't long enough.  And I used the regular back piece, NOT the racerback version.

Semi-technical information for fellow sewing geeks;):  I made a size 14 but added an inch to the side seams, tapering out from under the arm.  This was a little more of a pain than usual thanks to the number of front pieces.  I reinforced all the front seams with knit stay tape since I was sewing two different kinds of knits together.  I cut away the seam allowance on the neckline and sleeves because I used knit binding to finish them.

Because this was the fourth time I had made this dress, I was zipping along and feeling good until.....I put the binding on.  I made the binding by cutting two-inch wide strips across the black fabric.  I had used binding on version number two, but everything turned out too big.  I was determined not to let that happen this time, so I pinned that binding on TIGHT.  So tight that the dress, which fit beautifully before, was suddenly too small in the armholes when I tried it on:( I realized I had done TOO good of a job and had to unpick both armholes and redo them.  I did not unpick the neckline because it was working okay and unpicking stitches on knit fabric IS NOT FUN, especially when the fabric is black.

This dress is funky but is so comfortable it feels like I'm wearing pajamas.  Plus it rolls up in my suitcase easily, and then emerges from its cramped quarters looking as good as new.  That makes it a winner for me.