Striped Fitted Peplum Dress – McCalls 6886 modified

I wanted to bring you a quick piece as I know I haven’t posted in a while. I stumbled upon this look yesterday while looking for some sewing inspiration online. I needed something that I could sew up in an evening to have a post for today. As soon as I saw a Beaute J’adore’s Nautical Dress I knew I had found what I was looking for. First of all I love stripes and fitted dresses (although if I don’t get back on track they won’t love me). Secondly I quickly pictured the fabric and construction I needed to make a similar look.

As soon as I saw this dress I thought of this black and white striped textured ponte I had leftover from a previous project. I knew it would be perfect as is has good weight and great stretch.

I knew I could use M6886 for the base of this dress. I had to decide if I wanted to construct a circular hem based on the width of the dress hem or if I wanted to add a gathered strip fabric for the peplum. In order to keep the look of Beaute’s dress I decided to go with a gathered strip as this would ensure that the stripes on the peplum were vertical to the dress hem. I do think this was the best approach to mimic the original dress however I actually think I would have preferred the look of the circular hem.

I originally cut the neckline of A and the length of D as I was going for more of a midi look. That did NOT work. LOL. I had to go back and cut off about 5-6″ so the peplum would hit right at the knee. Even with my mishap this dress was definitely a quick sew as there are really just 5 seams (shoulders x2, side x2 and the peplum). This was only the second time I used my serger to gather and it was a breeze. Why did I wait so long to try it!!! My serger has come in so handy, I think I need a second one, but that’s different post for another day.