My husband and I are headed on holiday in a couple of weeks! I found that I needed a nicer beach cover up that I could slip on and wear to a beach restaurant and look/feel nice in.
I used McCalls 5890 view E, a princess seamed dress that I lengthened to a maxi.
This fabric was a REAL challenge to work with. It is a Missoni-like nylon open knit that I really had to do quite a few test sample on before I found the best seams and edge finishing. I finally ended up doing the entire project on my serger with a 4 thread overlock stitch with differential feed and with each thread in a different color. This helped to blend the seams better through the see-through knit. On the shoulders I ended up using clear elastic to stabilize the seam. But what a process! Ay my serger I had a piece of tissue paper, clear elastic and then the fabric front and back. This was the only was I could get a nice looking seam. :)
Another challenge of this fabric was how to use it, I mean really, this is a huge in your face print and color! Ideally I would have like to have matched each of those giant chevrons across the side and princess seams. However, it would have taken double the yardage to do that with a ton of waste. Plus it would have been cost prohibitive especially for a beach coverup!
the only change to the pattern was the length. I wanted a maxi!
The edge finishes also took quite a bit of testing. The pattern says to fold over and stitch. This looked quite like a nightmare! These teeny tiny nylon fibers kept getting caught on the feed dogs and it was messy. I finally ended up using a three thread narrow hem overlock stitch. It still ended up slightly wonky in some parts of the armhole but I'll take it! It looks a thousands time worse on the dress form, not very noticeable when it is on.
Happy 2014! Chicagoland is welcoming 2014 with a great big snow storm!
