Pattern Review - McCall 6069 Beach Coverup (Dress)

I feel like I've just come up for air after being under water for too long. As of today, I am half-way through my radiation treatments. I'll wait to sing alleluia until I'm completely done, but it's coming! Once I'm finished with all my treatments, DH and I are going on a much needed vacation. I've had absolutely no sewing mojo, as I told my friends over at "Recovering Members of Sewing Forums" on Facebook. But yesterday it started raising its head after I realized that I need a couple of things for vacation.

First up, I made another pair of the Larry Bird shorts. I'll post about those shortly. They're at home and I'm not. The second thing I made was a swimsuit cover up. I have two swimsuit cover ups at home. One came from Bonaire about 12 years ago and it has holes in it from being worn frequently. The second one came from Cane Bay Divers in St. Croix. It's become my favorite nightgown. So I need something new. As I contemplated the patterns for swimsuit coverups out there, I felt duly unimpressed. Then I went to Everything But Water, a specialty swimsuit store, where I saw all sorts of really cool coverups for lots and lots of money. "Hah!" said I, "I can make something that will be equally chic and won't cost me an arm and a leg." More for umbrella drinks, right? After seeing Erica B's review of this pattern, I had a lightbulb moment. This can work beautifully for a beach coverup. It's easy, it's chic, you just toss it on and go. All you need is the right fabric. So read on....

Pattern Description: From McCalls' website, "Pullover, above mid-knee, semi-fitted straight dresses A, B, C have elastic waist casing, stitched hem and bodice variations; dress A is sleeveless; dress B has three-quarter sleeves; dress C is sleeveless with self sash; dresses A, B, C have optional back strap; optional purchased belt."

I made View A, the sleeveless version

Sizing: 6-20. I made a 12, tapering out to a 14 at the waist.

Fabric Used: Gleam Me Up, Scotty mesh from Gorgeous Fabrics (of course).

Needle/Notions Used: 70/10 needle on my industrial, 75/11 on my industrial serger. Polyester cone thread. Clear elastic from Fashion Sewing Supply.

Did it look like the photo or drawing when you got through? Yes

How were the instructions? I didn't use them, and I only gave them a cursory glance. They look pretty good. This is a very simple design and it's pretty easy to figure out how to put it together.

Construction Notes: I made a FBA on the bodice front. Here you can see a picture of what I did:

Here's some explanation. If you think about the issue of fitting cloth over the bust, it's an issue of projectile (and I don't mean 50's bullet bras). Generally speaking, you need to add room around the torso at the fullest part of the bust, and also length from the shoulder seam to the waist, to accomodate the three-dimensional projection of the bust. But when dealing with a knit that's very stretchy on the cross grain, combined with 4 inches of bust ease to begin with in this pattern, you can get away with just adding length. Here, I added one inch of length directly under the bust apex, to keep the waistline from pulling up. I used a French curve to taper from the side seam to the added length. Then I kept that length at the center front. The result is that the dress' waistline falls at mine.


I also decided to forego hemming the dress, since it's really meant for kicking around between the beach, pool and bar. This mesh doesn't ravel at all, so it will hold up just fine, and I like the airier look of an unfinished hem. I may shorten it by about 6 inches so it looks more beachy and less day-dress.

Likes/Dislikes:It's cute; it's fun and it's perfect for throwing over a suit. No dislikes!

Would you do it again? Would you recommend it? Yes to both. I may make this in a rayon jersey for a dress that can go from beach to town to dinner.

Conclusion: Love it! Here are pictures of the front and back on my dress form. Sorry for the lousy picture quality. I took them on my cell phone.

Front:

and Back:

Happy sewing!