Simple Summer Maxi Dress – McCall’s M6744

We celebrated my mother-in-law’s 60th birthday a earlier this month and she hired a photographer to take some family photos while we were there. I decided I needed to make a new dress for the occasion and went looking through my stash of patterns.

I picked McCall’s M6744 because it looked like a quick sew and I was crunched for time. I picked an emerald green jersey as I thought it would add some nice drape to the pattern and I actually had enough on hand to make it.

I chose view D since I love wrap style dresses. Based on the body measurements, I fell into a small for the top and a medium for the hips. However, I find paper patterns run large and chose my size based off of the finished measurements. I ended up making the extra small and it fit perfectly.

Maxi dresses are always too long for me so I took out 1.5 inches from the bottom but should have taken another inch out as it was still a little too long.

The pattern is labeled EASY on the front and I always wondered if patterns labeled easy actually are easy! I am so happy it was truly an easy and quick sew. The elastics are all encased, which gives a nice interior finish and makes it more comfortable to wear, as exposed elastic can sometimes irritate my skin.

The only real change to the pattern I did was to do a 1/2 inch hem instead of the listed “narrow hem.” I assume the “narrow hem” was probably around 1/4″ but I couldn’t find any description of the exact size. My coverstitch machine didn’t like the multiple layers of fabric for the double folded narrow hem so I just did 1/2″ and it turned out fine.

I found out, after wearing it all day, that the fabric stretches out quite a bit and I was feeling a little exposed on the top by the end of the day. I will tack the front closed so I don’t have to worry about it in the future.

This is a good staple summer dress and would also be a nice swim cover pattern. I’d like to make the tank version next time!