Animal Print #M8177

*sing it with me*

Guess who’s back… back again? KRIS is back…tell ya friend…

[to come read my blog post] lmao. 

 Hey guys!!!! Welcome back to my little space. I am in SUCH a good mood today!  It’s partly because, for the first time, in a looooooonnnnngggggg time, I had a great weekend (sciatica aside)!

Drinks (check);

Belly full (check);

Music (check);

Great friends (double check!!!)

The other part, is because I have FINALLY finished my newest make and I’m seriously loving it. This fabric + this pattern = match made in heaven, at least IMO, but you’ll let me know if you agree!  So keep reading…

 THE FABRIC

Hear me, there is a new-ish fabric company in town and they are serving up gold! Listen, Zelouf International has been in the fabric game for over 35 years but, they have recently expanded to give home sewists, like myself, access to their fabric, R.E.T.A.I.L! As part of their expansion, I received a gift card, and access to their entire stock of fabrics! I was like a kid running wild in a candy shop. If you have kids, you know EXACTLY what I mean. I swear I was scrolling for’eva because there are just soooo many gorgeous fabrics on their website. Me nah gi you cat nah bag so be sure to head on over, and see for yourself!!! If you find anything you like (and you will), use my code ‘unsewcialzlf’ to get 10% off your order!

As a disclaimer, I do benefit from a small commission if you use my code, but it costs you nothing extra!

So… back to my fabric choice! This stunning Prada Twill stopped me dead in my tracks and I immediately knew that I HAD.TO.HAVE.IT!!! Now, you know how your girl feels about animal print fabrics and I was drooling over this one. *someone pass me a bib puh-lzzzz lol.

The fabric is woven and is composed of 97% polyester and 3% spandex. I don’t tend to gravitate to polyester fabrics, but this one was too beautiful to resist. It is medium weight with a gorgeous body and drape and holds its shape quite well. As a bonus, this fabric appears to be wrinkle resistant, and for a girl who despises ironing, that is definitely a plus in my books. I’m thinking the print is a combination of snake and alligator…perhaps? Maybe? *shrugs* IDK, but whatever it is, I’m here for it!!! 

The fabric washed up and pressed beautifully. It was easy enough to cut and sewed up nicely EXCEPT when I got to the buttonholes. IDK if its user error, or if my machine was having a moment, but it just wasn’t having it. Ironically, my two test buttonholes came out perfectly. By the time I put my actual project under the presser foot, things changed, for the worse. The buttonholes kept getting stuck mid-way through! I almost cried when I realized what was happening, and as anticipated, unpicking buttonholes in this fabric WAS.A.NIGHTMARE!!! You see, the stitching sorta disappears into the fabric (which is normally a good thing), but trying to unpick black thread in a black-patterned fabric wasn’t a walk in the park. It took a bright light and lots of patience, before I was finally able to remove the stitching. Truth be told, I was sorta bummed out about my buttonholes, because I had the perfect gold buttons lined up (which were voted on by my Insta followers). Fabulous as they were, they weren’t worth me ruining my fabric, so I ended up just using snaps instead.

THE DRESS

By now, you have already guessed that I made a button-down dress, so I may as well spill the tea. 

When McCall’s Early Spring patterns went live, I was jumping out of my seat over M8177, which is a flared, princess seamed dress with sleeve and length variations. I prefer princess seamed over darted bodices, because I find them much easier to fit; and my body looks great in fit and flare type silhouettes, so there was no hesitation ova this pattern!  I went for View B and traced a size 14, but had to grade up to a 16 from the waist down. I did a ½” FBA, lowered the apex ½”, shortened the bodice by 1” and did a ¼” sway back adjustment.

I skipped making a toile for this dress because I was soooooo eager to cut into my good fabric. After loads of trial and error in the past, I think I’m fairly comfy with the McCalls bodice block, and having made up a similar dress quite recently (M8179) I felt like I knew what adjustments I needed to make. I think the dress fits pretty well, except for a little bit of gaping at the bust and a tad bit of tightness at the underarm. This signals that I could have done a straight size 16 in this pattern, but that won’t stop me from wearing it! ya feel meh???

A couple weeks ago, I cleared out my closet, removing clothing that I no longer wear, for one reason or another. I tend to do this once or twice a year, because my closet gets crowded FAST. Now that I’ve made some space, I have loads of hangers awaiting new makes, and folks, this dress has earned its hanger!!!

Sooooo, whaddu think?

Match made in heaven: Yay or Nay???

Head over to Zelouff, use my code, and grab yourself some pretty, affordable, fabric… then shout me over on Instagram and lemme know what you got!

Gotta luv ya and leave ya,

Until next time,

xoxo

Kris