McCall's 2206 Update

I have just cut out my third muslin of McCall's 2206 and I'm ready to stitch it up. Hopefully I'll be ready for the real thing next.

After seriously altering the bodice to bring it down to my size, I figured it couldn't hurt to go ahead and slap one more muslin together to make sure the adjustment works as planned and more importantly, to check the fit of the sleeves and collar, which I haven't muslined yet. I suspect I may need to raise the armhole a tad and add a little bit of extra room to the sleeve. Once all that is done, I can cut out the real thing!

I'll be making the long sleeve view from red "suede cloth" from stash. I was worried about having enough fabric, but I checked and there is plenty. Enough to re-cut a piece if necessary, even. And since I'm putting all this work into muslins and fitting, I think I will go ahead and make the short sleeve view as well. I have a pretty turquoise/hot pink boucle in the stash that needs to be used and I'm thinking a bright, mod dress will be just the thing for Easter. (I might even have enough to make my daughter a coordinating A-line dress. She'd be thrilled to have a dress like Mom's!)

McCall's 2206- Second Muslin

Last night I made a second muslin of McCall's 2206. I am using a size 18 pattern, even though I normally use a size 16 bodice and even a size 14 at the shoulder.

For this muslin, I have made a 5/8" princess FBA, and I have added 1" of length at the waist. You can see some puffiness (extra fabric) in the back bodice, and if you look closely, you can see extra fabric puffing on the side right in front of my arm. Luckily, the skirt fits perfectly.


After staring hard at this in the mirror, I decided to try something new (to me) to get rid of all that extra room in the bodice. I didn't think taking in the side seams was the best answer, so I pinned and then basted a 1/2" "tuck" from the shoulder seam all the way to the waist on both sides of the front (just inside the princess seams) and the back, effectively removing 2" from the total circumference. When I tried it on again it seemed to have done the trick. I have an idea for how to adjust the pattern to compensate for the "tucks," which I'll have to share next time.
I plan to add just a little more length to my FBA, and I need to check the fit of the collar and sleeves, but I'm almost ready to start on the real dress. I'm thinking about using a dark red suede cloth (I think that's what Hancocks calls it) from stash.

Sewing From the 60's

Hi, I'm Shannon and my blog is Frogs in a Bucket. This is my first time participating in an official sew-along. It sounded like so much fun, I just couldn't resist.

I'll be making McCall's 2206, an A-line dress from 1969:

I have not decided which sleeve I'll be using yet. I'm leaning toward the long sleeve version because it's cold right now, but I'm wondering if I'd get more wear out of the short sleeve version. I'll decide when I get the muslin done.

This will be my first vintage pattern. I made a vintage repro last year of a similar dress and I was thrilled with the results. I can't wait to try the real thing.

I'm really excited to see all of the lovely vintage patterns that are going to be sewn up and shared here. This is going to be so much fun!