Last year at Christmas I had lots of time to look at Instagram as we were in a lockdown and one of the things I loved was Christmas quilting fabric use in apparel. We don’t have a lot of fabric stores in Winnipeg and Christmas fabric is crazy expensive ($30/meter). On boxing day the online Canadian fabric store had it on for $10 a meter but there wasn’t a lot of choice. I had my choice of 4 prints and none of them were perfect so I just picked the one that looked the best. I liked the soft blue background with pops of red and gold of this fabric.
I wasn’t sure what pattern to use so I took out my favorites and let my husband pick. Ofcourse he chose the strapless dress version off McCalls M6956 – the most showy one. This pattern is not lined and it has wire in the midsection of the dress. It comes quickly together but I would recommend making the dress with lining. I was on the fence on whether to add lining to the faced bodice top to cover the skirt but decided not to make the extra effort because I won’t be wearing the dress very often. It’s going to be a Christmas party 1 -2 hr wear dress in a decade.
I added a bow in the back to cover up the hook closure and I also added lace to the bodice and hem. The lace made me feel a bit more covered up on top. I had to take in the bodice a bit to make it tight enough to mostly stay up. However, as with most strapless dresses I had to do adjustments throughout the night to keep my bra hidden. For this reason, I would suggest building in bra cups or using an adhesive tape bra that doesn’t show up higher.
So one final note about holiday dresses and parties….I was invited to a Christmas party at a friend’s house and I sewed this dress up as the ‘tada’ of the night. I think that is what Christmas parties are about….wearing fancy dresses? 15 minutes before we were supposed to go, another friend texted me to tell me the party was in the person’s garage….which is sort of heated. I had to scrap the plan to wear this dress and wear super warm stuff. I was so disappointed:( but glad I didn’t show up in this because I would have froze. Next year I plan to host the friend Christmas party to ensure I can wear my fancy Christmas dress. I lucked into some clearance Christmas fabric for $2 a meter for next year’s dress and I am already making plans.
Style Sewciety 