McCalls 6600 Plaid Shirtdress

My waistline has been expanding recently.  Now if I were to look at the glass half empty, I would be very unhappy about that.  But as a seamstress, I can look at it as an opportunity to make new clothes!
I really do intend to put some effort into fitting into my old clothes, but in the meantime, I've discovered shirtdresses!  Just tighten or loosen up the belt a notch, and they are very adaptable to the peri-menopausal figure.

I've never been a fan of making buttonholes, which a lot of shirtdresses rely on, but I found McCalls 6600, which is one of their Fashion Star sewing patterns.  It has a short placket.  I don't know what is with me and plackets lately, but we are not friends.  The cuff and the placket were the same length, and this time, I grabbed the cuff pieces and put them on as the placket, thinking, "why is this placket so wide".  It wasn't until I got to making the cuffs, when I thought "Boy, these are narrow cuffs!", that I realized the error of my ways.

I "made it work" though, and I don't think anyone will be the wiser, unless I tell them.  The fabric is an all polyester shantung that I got for a total of $9 from fabric.com.  Even though it is kind of a squiggly plaid,  I made sure to match the plaids at the center front and side seam.

Although I love the plaid, the static cling on this one is pretty bad.  My friend Shirley told me to use hairspray on the inside of the dress to get rid of the static cling, and I have to say, it worked!

It's really comfortable, and it went together well, so I highly recommend it.  I think that I'll be making more of these. I'll add side seam pockets in my next version, and skip the useless chest pocket.  For winter, I can see this in a fine wale corduroy, or velveteen.  Or even in a wool gabardine.  A jacket fits over this nicely too, so there are lots of styling possibilities!

Happy Sewing!
Ann