Crossover Cape Collar - McCall's 7243

A quick post on a quick to sew dress.  My husband recently passed  his  30th year anniversary with his current employer, and  one of his coworkers had reached 35 years. So there was a celebration dinner, with spouses, at a local restaurant. I jumped at the opportunity  to sew a dress to wear to the dinner, because I don't have many activities these days where I can wear a dress.   I chose McCall’s 7243, a close fitting pullover style with  what I would describe as a "cape collar".

 

 

 My thoughts were that  the collar would bring attention  up to the wearer's face, and create a more hourglass silhouette if the wearer has wider hips (comme moi).   The  fabric  I chose is a stable sweater  knit, in a poly/acrylic blend, purchased at Jo Ann Fabrics.  My like of the fabric color and pattern overruled my aversion to the fact it had acrylic in it.

McCall's 7243 Front

McCall's 7243 Back

 Some of you may notice that my dress's collar overlaps in the opposite direction than the pattern picture. I was cutting out the dress on the kitchen table, between meal times, when my workspace got invaded by hungry humans. The room got very hectic and I lost my concentration, forgetting to place the pattern pieces that needed to be cut out of a single layer fabric (fronts) with the correct side up.  Once I realized I had done that, I had to do the same thing with the collar pattern piece. so that all pieces had the right side of fabric in the mirror image of the pattern.  Also I did a poor job of checking the finished dress length before cutting out the pattern pieces.    I held the front pattern piece up to my body,  looked down and decided to add  an inch to the bottom edge. Yes I know, not the best way to check hem length, looking down combined with bifocals. Next time I will use a mirror. When I did the first try on of the dress, I was dismayed to find I needed about 3 inches more to cover my knees.  I had very little fabric left. Barely enough for a 3 inch wide hem band. So I faced the band with tricot to maximize the width. The seam where I attached the band to the dress looks very much like the topstitched hem, recommended by the pattern directions, would have.

Faced Hem Band

   I will probably wear this dress to work one more time and then cut it off at sweater length.  It will get more wear as a sweater.  I think View B, the sleeveless version would make a really cute summer dress.

 

McCall's 7243