McCalls M5927: A Fashion Sheath Dress

I enjoy wearing fully lined work dresses and frequently inspect the lining of these dresses and wonder how it’s done.  So when I saw this McCalls M5927 pattern which features a basic fashion sheath dress that is fully lined, I knew I must attempt this!

Hey my orange bolero and belt goes very well with the dress!

 

Look mum, zero seams!  All seams are enclosed/hidden.  This is my first time sewing with swishy-washy slippery fabric, the lining, it is tricky!  It’s not too tough to fully line a dress but some handstitching is required.

 

Fabric:  Rayon – I got this at the Kamdar sale at 70% off, so it’s only RM3/USD1 per yard.  This is the first time I work with rayon and I noticed it wrinkles easily!!?

I am 158cm tall only and most patterns are for a 168cm woman, so I had hacked off 6cm from the skirt length on the pattern before I trace and cut on the fabric, and this dress only takes slightly over 1 yard! To be sure, get 1.25 yards!  So it’s only 1 yard of rayon, 1 yard of lining (RM3/USD1) and an invisible zipper (RM2.40). Total Cost: RM8.40/USD2.80.  Not too shabby for a fully lined dress. :)

 

Pattern Notes: McCalls M5927.  I made View A, the sleeveless version.  This is a great wardrobe builder pattern, you can vary it a bit and have many different work dresses with one pattern. I plan to make View C (see red dress below) with tabs and sleeves next, in fact I saw the exact same dress in the mall recently selling for more than RM200/USD67.

I cut out a size 12, it fits very well around the waist and torso but it gaped a lot initially around the armscye.  I guess it’s because I am bottom heavy and unfortunately less endowed on top. So I took in about 2cm from each side of the armscye.  I omitted the back slit on the skirt.

 

Underlining vs. Lining!

Do you know there’s a difference between ‘underlining’ and ‘lining’? I didn’t before I made this dress! This pattern actually calls for BOTH underlining and lining but I skipped the underlining to avoid bulk.  I just realized that I had underlined my last plaid dress (that was when I attempted to do lining on a dress without referring to any instructions).  Compare both pictures below:

With ‘Lining’, you can see zero seams on the dress, they are all enclosed, hidden; the skirt lining is separate from the main fabric skirt.  Whilst with ‘Underlining’, basically one just bastes the lining cloth on the main fabric pieces before sewing them up, you can still see the seams - and the skirt lining is not separate.

 

Wear Again? Yes! This is such a happy dress!  I think it is very versatile, I can wear it to work (with a solid cardi) or for play.