Julie's Flamingo Shirtdress

It's been quite awhile since I have posted one of my projects on the FM blog! It's not that I haven't been sewing, but frankly I don't get the opportunity to photograph most of my makes. Kudos to all of you that have that chance. 

I couldn't pass up the chance to share with you my most recent make. Shirtdresses are popular this spring (they have been for awhile now, but an even larger presence now.) I wanted to make a very unique shirtdress. A few months ago, we had a super cute flamingo print cotton that I couldn't resist. I am a sucker for prints and while I really liked the flamingos, I wondered if the print limited what I could do with it. But after some careful thought I decided on a shirtdress. I wanted to wear it on my vacation to Florida recently, but only got half of it sewn before leaving. I'm not one to stay up all night to get it done, so it sat at my sewing machine while I was away. :O(

When McCall's released their Early Summer Collection, I found the perfect unique shirtdress pattern. There were actually two different shirtdresses in particular and they looked similar. But I decided on Melissa Watson's version - McCall's 7380. I especially liked that the skirt was separate from the bodice which helped me get a better fit. Of course I also liked it because it already had the lines on it for adjusting to get a better fit. 

I used the Palmer/Pletsch tissue fitting method to fit the entire dress on me and came up with the following adjustments: 
- 1" full bust adjustment
- 1/2" forward shoulder
- a slight broad back (just a 3/8") 
- a small dart at the shoulder (I learned that I should do this in the Fit Along!)
- Add 1" to the skirt side seams and graded down to nothing halfway down the skirt pattern.

When doing the full bust adjustment, you will want to remember to add the length to the front band and the right fly. You get the length because of the full bust adjustment. Measure the space of Line 3 to get how much you should add to the bands. (There are also lines denoting Line 3 on those pattern pieces.)

I had never made a fly button closure before. And to be honest-- the directions were pretty confusing. I got the general idea of what the end result should have been, but I had such a hard time. I had to read the directions twenty times and seam rip at least 3 times before I got it right. I feel like if I did it again I wouldn't look at the directions, I would just visualize how it is suppose to turn out and do it. The directions actually made it more confusing to me. 

The back has an elastic waist so that it cinches closer to your body in the back rather than ballooning out like some dresses can do. 

The day these photos were taken, it was the first sunny day we had in a long time. Of course though, there was not a decent place to take a photo except in the sun. But the morning was cool, so I had a denim jacket paired with it. Then I wore a brown belt and some Tom's sandals I got with a recent order on Stitch Fix, which made this ensemble casual and cute with the shirtdress. 

Although I had good intentions of getting this done for my early May vacation in Florida, it never happened. But since wearing it, I have gotten lots of complements! I definitely would recommend this pattern to anyone looking to make a shirtdress. I like all the details from the fly button closure, the shaped hem and the elastic at the back. Is a shirtdress on your sewing list this spring? What pattern and fabric will you be using?

~ Julie