Butterick B6760

Fabric: Dress - Italian stretch cotton sateen; lining - cotton/poly batiste. Both fabrics from Fabric.com

I fell in love with this vaguely floral, vaguely geometric, irregular pattern the moment I saw it. When it arrived in the mail, I was surprised to find that it is not a border print. Rather, to take advantage of the crosswise stretch, the ombre-like pattern is printed in panels, which proved to be a bit of a layout nightmare. I used 4 yards of fabric to make a dress which should have taken almost half that amount! This was my first garment from B6760. It’s a very fun princess seam wrap dress. I tissue-fit the pattern, and found that I needed to reorient the ties because of my high round back and forward shoulder. I also did a full bust adjustment and a sway back adjustment. The pattern has slash front pockets. I’m rather curvy, so “pocket ears” in slash front pockets are a problem for me. To eliminate them, I researched every trick I could find, and invented a few of my own. (I actually wrote a --- lengthy --- blog post detailing the process, if you are interested.) In the end, it was a combination of several techniques that tamed these pockets into a smooth silhouette. The pattern instructions call for a waist facing, which seemed bulky to me. Given the stretch fabric, I also did not think a facing would provide any stability. Instead of the facing, I used 1” wide petersham to create a petersham faced waist on the skirt, which covers all the raw seam allowances and provides a needed waist stay. This dress is a fun summer make. I like the V neckline, though I think I will change the cut of the armscye, which I find unflattering. My husband likes the v-back and lower back “peek-a-boo.” M6173 also features a romper; I’m not sure I’ll make that, but I will probably make this dress again.

Curious to see how I made those pockets lie flat? Read Blog Post