Jacobite Shirt dress

I really love the McCall's shirt dress pattern 6696.  I have made it once before but that was in a floaty cotton lawn.  This time I have made it in a gorgeous chambray.

The Pattern

I have always loved Scotland and now that I am fortunate enough to actually live here I don't feel the slightest bit silly to still want to wear thistles or tartan in some way!  This fabric is called Botany and I love the swirling leaves, stems and thistles travelling every which way all over the fabric.

How great is this photo angle?!  No idea how this
happened, but I like it!

The pattern calls for the waistband, button band and collar stand to be hand stitched down on the inside but I decided to topstitch these instead and am quite happy with the way it looks.

The back has a yoke across the shoulders and a gathered billowing section that appeals to me for both the ease of movement and for the appearance of a narrower waist!

Here it is from the front without the belt.  I probably won't wear it with a belt myself.

The Fit

When making clothes for myself I often just go for the largest size and hope for the best.  I think really I could have made this a bit smaller.  I can easily pinch out 2 inches at the waist with my hand and the shoulder looks like it is slipping down my arm.  Also, there seems to be too much fabric from my underarm to my bust which could be removed using larger darts.  I did loose a stone (14 pounds) between planning, cutting and sewing this dress whilst trying the whole30 eating plan, and I made absolutely no attempts to fit this dress to myself at all.  I just made it straight from the envelope.

Next time I make this dress I shall try a size smaller and really make sure I am happy with the bodice and bust before continuing.

But I will most definitely still wear this dress, flaws and all!

The Fabric

The fabric is a fawn, light khaki colour with a solid black print on top.  It washed really well and didn't fade at all!  It is a design by Alison Glass as part of her Ex Libris fabric collection.  As soon as I saw it I ordered it straight away!  It comes in a choice of three colourways too.  I saw a beautiful table runner made on Instagram by Jamie Naughton using the blue colourway but she had embellished it with a rainbow of moths, also from an Alison Glass Ex Libris print.  I am seriously tempted to add some of these to my dress too!

And so, despite some fit issues, I really love this dress and am so pleased to finally be able to wear it!  It will get it's debut next weekend for our wedding anniversary. And maybe with the belt!