M6745 Striped Summer Dress pt 2 of 2

Hello everyone, here is the second part of the tutorial for how to make a quick summer dress using McCall’s 6745 pattern!

We have already put the bodice together in the first tutorial, so now let’s jump into the skirt.

I serged the sides and backs of the skirt, and the edges of the pocket bags to finish them. Pocket bags usually get rippled after serging, so give them a press to flatten them back out.

Then pin the pocket bags to the skirt side seams.

I’m using the pattern’s 5/8” seam allowance, so I want to sew the pocket bags at a half inch.

Then press the seams toward the pockets.

Pin the skirt pieces together at the side seams. I marked 2” below the waist, and 6” below that mark. This will be my pocket opening. Since it’s not marked on the pattern you can use your own hand as a reference for how large the opening should be.

Sew the side seam at 5/8” just for the first two inches, then back-tack. Be sure to keep the pocket bag seam allowances out of the way.

Move down to the lower mark and back-tack, then finish sewing the side seam of the skirt.

I’m pressing the side seams open, with the pocket bags folded toward the front skirt, and the pocket opening butted together. Because they weren’t sewn at exactly 5/8” on the skirt side seams, there’s a little bit of overlap at the pocket bag edges. I’m pinning them together so they’re flat, and letting the edge be a little short.

Then I sew close to the serged edge from the top of the pocket bag around to as close to the side seam as I can get.

I need to make the pleats now, so I’m measuring the circles on the pattern, and marking the same measurements on my fabric.

Then transfer the marks to the other side of the skirt.

Then I pin the pleats in place, and stitch them at 1/2”, or just shy of the 5/8” seam allowance. I’m not sewing the pocket bags down yet. And I’m also not sewing the center back pleat yet either.

After the pleats are sewn, pin the top of the pocket bag to the seam allowance and hold the skirt up. I adjusted the pins so the pocket bags weren’t pulling the skirt at all, and then stitched them in place at the top.

Now pin the skirt to the waistband. Then sew it in place, using the piping stitch line as a guide.

Then grade the seams. I’m cutting the skirt down about a half inch. There are 7 layers of fabric at the front pleats and pocket bags!

On the upper waistband seam, I graded the seams and then pinned the shell to the lining. I’m running a loose hand stitch through the layers to keep them together inside the garment.

Then I folded the waistband lining lower edge under to match up with the waist seam in the shell fabrics. Then I hand-sewed that in place.

Leave the lining free for about two inches from center back so there’s room to fold it under later.

Then press the waistband again. I like to form the pleats and press them down for a few inches too.

Now I can put in the zipper. I want it to be 22” long, finished, so I’m marking that on my fabric. I’m going to use a closed coil zipper, and I’m going to do a centered application, so let me show you how to do that 🙂

After the length was marked I pinned the center back, matching the stripes and waistband. I increased my stitch length to do a machine basting stitch, which is just a temporary stitch to hold something in place. I’ll be removing this stitch later so I want the longest stitch length I can to make it easy.

Start sewing just under the self/lining seam at the neck as shown above.

Once I got to the 22” mark, I switched back to my normal stitch length and back-tacked, then stitched down another inch. This is where the bottom of the zipper is going to be hidden.

Then I pressed the center back seam open.

I opened the zipper and pinned it to one side of the seam allowance. I also cut away the extra bit at the center back that was supposed to be a pleat. I don’t like a pleat right at the zipper, it opens up and looks gross. So I’m making the pleat start under the zipper.

I stitched down the side of the zipper that was pinned. Then closed the zipper to pin the other side, and sew that in place too. Then cut off the bottom of the zipper so it will be hidden in the pleat.

Stitch the center back seam at the top of what’s left of the pleat.

Press the center back seam open, centered over the zipper. Now we can top-stitch around the zipper.

Sewing from the outside of the dress starting at the neck down, and pivot twice to make a little rectangle around the zipper.

Sew all the way back up the other side to the top of the zipper again. See how the basting stitch keeps the seams aligned?

Now very carefully take out the basting stitch. You should be able to push the zipper pull down and unzip it, which makes it easier to cut away the threads.

After that’s done it needs one more good press at center back.

Then flip it inside out and pin the lining in place over the zipper tape, leaving enough room for the zipper head to move freely. Hand sew the lining to the zipper tape.

The pattern says to put a hook and eye at the top of the zipper, but I always find them too scratchy on my neck so I’m leaving that off.

All that’s left now is the hem. I cut the skirt really long so I could have a thick, heavy hem. I’m pinning along the sweep, which is the bottom of the skirt, at 5” above the edge. Sometimes I like to use pins instead of chalk marks because it’s faster to remove.

Then I fold the hem allowance up and press it in place. I remove the pins before pressing.

Then I fold the hem allowance’s raw edge down so it finishes at 4 and 3/8”, and press that in place too. Then pin it.

The last thing I’m doing is sewing from the underside of the skirt along the edge of the hem. I changed my bobbin thread to red that matches the skirt – it was a little less visible than the black.

And there you go, a quick weekend project for a new summer dress!