McCall's 7627: Finished Finally

This is a pattern I never would have considered were it not for others who shared their versions.  When I saw Dressmaking Debacles' pictures of view B, I wanted one of my own.  It's feminine and flirty, but not twee.  I have no time for twee when I'm pushing 43.  

Constructing this top did not come easy - not that expect sewing to be easy all of the time.  

The sleeves.  OH MY GOSH.  The sleeves take foreeeeeeeeever.  I knew this going in to the project, so I started with them first.  Meaning...I cut and assembled one sleeve before I cut anything else.  I figured if I hated it, I could save the fabric for something else.
 
Since my fabric was a light grey and white cotton shirting, I couldn't use tailor's chalk or any other marking pencil/pen to mark the tuck lines.  So I used tailor's tacks in two different colors to mark the fold line and stitching line.  This took a full hour!

The instructions have the nerve to suggest doing all of this AFTER the sleeve seam is sewn.  Yeah no.  I would have given up early on if I had to do all of this with a tube of fabric.

Sewing and pressing all of the tucks took another hour which means each sleeve took two hours to complete and I hadn't even cut out the cuffs.  Madness.

Despite the time it took to construct the sleeves, I really like them!  It's drama without the noise, know what I mean?

After conquering the sleeves and hemming the massively-long ties, the next thing was to attach the peplum.  Should be simple, right?  Le sigh.

 

 

I had the absolute hardest time understanding what I was supposed to do in steps 36 and 37.  The instructions and diagrams made NO SENSE whatsoever.  I tried different maneuverings of the peplum facing and front facing to no avail.  Despite clipping the seam area, there was an insane amount of fabric that needed easing.

I contacted Nakisha for guidance and she sent some images that helped, though I would have to include a large pleat to make everything fit.

I played around with it for a few days and eventually got frustrated.  I emailed McCall's and had a series of exchanges with a representative that made me even more confused.  In one message she said to open out the facing, in the next she said not to open out the facing...or something.  After the eighth email, I didn't bother replying. I was done.

I called Haberman Fabrics (local fabric store) and asked if I could bring in the shirt and instructions for help.  Since most, if not all, of the workers sew, I hoped together we would be able to make sense of the instructions.  

The lady who helped me agreed that the instructions didn't make sense.  We slightly increased the size of the existing bodice pleats, shortened the width of the peplum facing, and winged it from there.  The inside isn't pretty and my pleats aren't even, but I'm over it. That whole area is covered by the ties and isn't visible.

 

Sleeves, done.  Peplum-front foolishness, done.  The only thing left was to hem the peplum.  I waffled between using a rolled hem (super easy and quick) or a topstitched hem (mind-numbing and aggravating).

Which finish did I choose?  Guess. 

I didn't think the rolled hem would "match" the rest of the garment.  So I sewed a basting stitch to ease the circular hem, serged the edge, and topstitched.  It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

Other stuff:  

I sewed a straight size 16.  The wrap is a bit low so I'll always need to wear a camisole.

I don't like the shoulder pleats; they don't want to lie flat.

Conclusion:  I love the shirt and will definitely wear it a lot.  I have zero desire to make another and am in no rush to make the dress. 

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I'm wearing the shirt with my fourth pair of Jalie Éléonore pull-on jeans.  Blog post coming soon. =)

Until then, peace everyone!

L