The M8211 dress pattern was my great discovery of Spring 2022, largely due to my new-found puff sleeves addiction. But this summer has been too hot to allow for any sleeves at all, so I explored the sleeveless version of the pattern. Matched with a gorgeous cotton voile fabric from Croft Mill, it turned into my favourite dress of the summer!

My Spring obsession turned into a summer one

As you well know of you follow this blog, puff sleeves were my obsession this Spring (see here, here and here if you don’t believe me!). The M8211 was a perfect candidate and I made two versions of view B.

When I bought the pattern, it hadn’t even crossed my mind that I could ever sew sleeveless option C. But when the heatwave stroke, I desperately searched my pattern library for the most lightweight dress possible… and there it was!!

M8211 pattern review

I fully reviewed the M8211 pattern here so I won’t bore you repeating the same. Overall it is a lovely dress to make, perfectly drafted and with clear instructions.

The only thing I would highlight is that the sizing is on the large side. I had to reduce the size of the front elastic and take 2.5cm of width at the back, despite using my usual McCall’s size 10.

The way the pattern is drafted to go from the puff sleeved to the sleeveless dress is very clever, using mostly the same pattern pieces. Huge bonus as it means you don’t have to recut the entire thing!!

Drafting a tiered skirt

I wanted a big, floaty skirt. So I did not use the skirt from the pattern but instead I drafted my own tiered skirt. That said there are tiers in version A of the pattern, you could definitely use them. I personally did not see the point of cutting pattern pieces since I had a very precise idea of what I wanted.

My skirt is 90cm long so each tier is 30cm high (plus 1cm seam and 2cm hem allowance). The shirring is based one a 2x ratio, so the first tier is 1.5m wide, the second 3m, the third 6m. So in summary, based on 150cm wide fabric:

• tier 1: 1 panel of 32x150cm
• tier 2: 2 panels of 32x150cm
• tier 2: 4 panels of 33x150cm

You could obviously adjust these measurements based on your height, you waist circumference, the width of your fabric and how heavy it is. On general the shirring ratio is around 1.5x, but my fabric was very lightweight to I knew I could definitely do more without any hot air balloon effect.

The most gorgeous cotton voile fabric

For this dress, I wanted the lightest fabric I could find – and what is possibly lighted that cotton voile? I chose this amazing beauty from Croft Mill and they generously gifted it to me as part of the Ambassador programme – I feel like the luckiest girl on Earth!

This fabric is absolutely gorgeous: immensely comfortable in the heat, with the most beautiful drape, very easy to sew despite being lightweight, and not see-through!! This is usually a problem with cotton voile, but here the busy floral pattern does the trick.

Conclusion

I am completely enamoured with this dress … and yes of course I have sewn another one! Stay tuned…

For an unknown reason, flowers have been surprisingly absent of my sewing room over the past few months. So let’s remedy this with a very 1950’s-styled V9239 dress, with an all-over roses pattern.

V9239 pattern review

Unremarkable cover but immense vintage potential

I have had the V9239 pattern in my stash for ages but never got around to sewing it. This is not utterly surprising, given the very uninspiring picture presenting the pattern. A 1950’s bodice with 1970’s sleeves and a 1980’s skirt, Vogue, seriously? The unmatched diversity of chosen fabrics for all the other options just adds insult to injury…

However if you focus on option D and make your best effort to ignore the horrendous stripes, you end up with a perfect 1950’s vintage silhouette!

An absolutely lovely pattern with many positives

If you manage to look beyond this very bad first impression, there are actually many things to like about the V9239 pattern:

• As just mentioned, option D offers the perfect canvas for a lovely 1950’s silouhette, fully in the spirit of Dior New Look. I like everything about the components of this dress: the fitted bodice with utterly flattering princess seams; the cap sleeves; and the full circle skirt.

• The pattern is part of the  « Custom Fit » collection, which means it offers bust cup options, hence a perfect bust fit – hurrah!!! This was the reason I purchased it in the first place to be honest (I am an E cup). Beware, some of the Vogue/ McCall’s patterns are not « Custom Fit » but offer cup options nevertheless (for instance the M7908 jumpsuit) – how to make our lives complicated…

• The fit of the overall dress is excellent. I went for a size 8 (for my UK 8/ US 2/ FR 36) and a C cup (for my E cup) and did not make any adjustments whatsoever. Next time I will take of a bit of fabric off the top of the back, as there is a bit to much ease to my taste, but nothing terrible.

• This dress is a very easy make. There is a limited number of pattern pieces and once you stop mixing up the sleeve pieces (I strongly recommend explicitly writing TOP and BOTTOM on each of them), no major technical difficulties.
• The inside finish is very neat, as the bodice is fully lined.

Limited modifications to the initial pattern

As usual, I could not help adding my personal touch…

• I added piping around the neck because I am a piping addict… Hardly visible…

• I fully lined the skirt because the fabric is very lightweight.
• I moved the zip to the side and made the skirt 3-panel to give it more volume. In retrospect not a good combination as one of my skirt seams in at the front… It is hardly visible thanks to the busy pattern of the fabric so never mind!

Fabric: give my flowers anytime!

There was a funny debate a while ago about why after a certain age, women should not wear flowers. As most middle-aged seamstresses that got involved then, I utterly disagree and I do absolutely love sewing and wearing flowers. Especially when I get my hands on such gorgeous fabric!

This one is a lightweight cotton I bought last year from Sew Me Sunshine and didn’t dare touching until I found the perfect pattern. These large pink roses are absolutely stunning, I am completely enamoured with this print. However the fabric itself is not the best, it is partly see-through (hence the full lining) and it creases a lot. Not that it prevents me from really loving this dress!

Conclusion: thrilled!

I am absolutely thrilled with this dress and so happy I waited for the right pattern for this fabric! I am now very keen to try using this pattern in broderie anglaise but I am pondering on how to best hide the princess seams… It may take a while!

And just a bit of English roses spam for my greatest joy…

Seersucker is one of my favourite fabrics for summer. So when I was given the opportunity to chose from Croftmill’s extensive selection, I was … well, slightly overwhelmed! But pink is always a winner with me so let me introduce you to my pink seersucker Semis dress.

What is seersucker?

Seersucker is traditionally a cotton fabric, where tight-tension yarns alternate with loose-tension yarns. This weaving process gives the fabric a crinkled surface. So you end up with an extremely lightweight, summer-friendly fabric with nevertheless quite a lot of structure. Here are pictures up close, which give a perfect idea of the fabric structure.

I adore wearing seersucker cotton for summer but it is actually quite hard to find fabric which does not have polyester in it – and I would definitely not advise a polyester mix for hot weather! The pink seersucker I chose (as well as most Croft Mill’s selection) is 100% cotton so perfect for making summer dresses!

Sewing the Semis dress by Delphine & Morissette

The Semis dress by Delphine & Morissette is the ultimate summer dress, with it low neckline, open back and frilled shoulder straps. I had already used this pattern twice for my Resort Collection (here and here) and was very keen to use it again for the summer.

This dress is an incredibly easy make. The bodice is perfectly designed and comes together in no time.

The frilled straps take more time but are incredibly cute.

And the original skirt is a simple gathered rectangle of fabric so open to many interpretations… which is exactly what I did here!

Creating a Zimmermann-inspired skirt

I have been fantasising about Zimmermann’s multi-layers ruffled skirts for ages and was very keen to try and reproduce the style.

This is my first attempt at fitting these ruffles in 3m of fabric while keeping the all thing wearable… and I am quite pleased with it!!

I basically worked with 5 rectangles of fabric: 3 visible for the top ruffles; and 2 non-visible for the under-skirt:

• The 3 visible rectangles are gathered with a 2x ratio to underskirt, overlap 5cm on each other, have a 1 cm sewing and 2cm hem allowance. They obviously need to be cut in the main fabric.
• The two under-skirt rectangles are 150cm wide. They can be cut in a different fabric (I used a white cotton lawn).

You could obviously make the skirt longer by adding an extra 2 bottom ruffles (and an extra 2 under-skirt rectangles); or make more layers by shortening them. So so many options!!

I will try and make a tutorial the next time I make a similar skirt – very soon I am sure, as these skirts seem to be my new obsession!!

Conclusion

After writing this article, I am no so tempted to reproduce this dress with different skirt options in all possible seersucker colours… How typical of me!!!

And here we come at the (temporary) end of my series on puff sleeves (see here and here for previous articles). The weather has considerably improved in London, so I now expect to be able to wear only sleeveless dresses – fingers crossed… In the meantime, let me introduce you to two versions of the M8211 pattern.

A special order

Both dresses were actually sewn for my elder daughter. She gave me quite a detailed brief for the style of the dress: puff sleeves, square neckline, gathered bust, knee-length skirt. And thankfully I had the perfect pattern: McCall’s M8211, which I bought last year as part of a bulk sale purchase from the US (I know, I know…).

It is a very cute dress but I did not really see it on me. No wonder, it is actually much more appropriate for my 16 year-old, don’t you think?

She also chose the fabrics for both dresses. First, a cotton gingham from Sew Me Sunshine, in her favourite blue colour. I have been a lover of gingham forever and I am so pleased my daughters are too. I have actually just finished another dress for her sister. Let’s make the most of gingham being available everywhere!

The second dress is in a superb white embroidered cotton from Amothreads. This online shop sells solely deadstock fabric, always at incredibly low prices. The quality is irregular but you can get your hands on amazing bargains – definitely the case here!

I like the fact she chose such different fabrics because they give the dress a completely different style. Cleary the white dress is much more formal than the gingham one. It will be perfect to wear at her brother’s communion next week – which was this initial purpose of this all process. The gingham dress was optional and will be taken to France for our seaside holiday.

M8211 pattern review

Sizing: on the large side

My daughter is a touch broader-shouldered than me and her bust cup is more standard than mine, but otherwise our measurements are quite similar. So I cut my usual size 10 size for McCall’s and ended up with a good fit overall but quite a lot of bagging at the top.

Nothing that I could not easily sort out though. I took 2.5cm off (on each side!!!) at the top of the back bodice, going to 0 above the belt; 5cm off the front elastic; and 3cm off the shoulder elastic. The elastic is a breeze to adjust, you just need to make sure you do it before closing your front and shoulder sleeve casings.

Many positives, no major negative

There are many things I like about this dress.

• The style is completely on trend: just a bit of cottage style but not too much.
• There are plenty of lovely details: the puff sleeves (off course!); the square neckline at the front and at the back; the gathered bust; and the full skirt.
• It is a reasonably easy make. The clever construction makes all the pieces fall perfectly together. This is always the case with McCall’s but worth highlighting nevertheless. I would strongly advise to follow the instructions precisely though!

Changes to the pattern: not many

On top of the sizing adjustments mentioned above, I decided to move the central back zip to the side for the gingham dress. Beware, it does not work with the 3-piece skirt! So if you decide to do the same, you will need to redraft your skirt to avoid a seam right at the middle front!!

Conclusion: success!

My daughter was thrilled with these dresses and I can even borrow them in case I find myself short of things to wear (??!!!); so this in an entire success!