Doctor Who Novelty Dress – McCalls 6696 Pattern Review

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This dress turned out so well. I want several of them, and I have Kittenish Behaviour to thank (Thank you, girl! :)). I saw this pattern when it came out and passed on it because I felt like the envelope photo made View D look boxy, A had a belt and I don’t own belts, I didn’t like the gathers on the back shown in the line drawing, and buttons mean handsewing and I’m not about that life, LOL! However, I was listening to Sian’s vlogs, and saw her floral version with the pink buttons and it made me look twice. She wears it in several videos and each time I saw it, I wanted it. Then when I searched for it, I saw so many lovely ladies loved the pattern I knew I had to give it a go. I used the holiday (Labor Day) to pick up a swirly red and black cotton from Joann and off to sew I went. I loved it, so I immediately made two more including this nifty Doctor Who version.

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As a pattern review, I made View A in a size 10, and I picked that size based on the finished garment bust measurement and how much wearing ease I wanted. The instructions were easy to follow, however I only followed the construction order. I used what I’ve seen called the burrito method to cleanly attach the fronts to the yoke without slipstitching. I topstitched the yoke, front band, waistband, and collar like on a man’s button down shirt, so I didn’t slipstitch anything indicated on the pattern. When I made my muslin, I tried the gathers and didn’t like it, tried a pleat of the excess and didn’t like that either, so I redrafted the back piece. In doing so, I removed the ease at the top (2″) and the ease at the bottom (3″). In case you can’t see the detail, here’s a closer look.

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