Ankara Vibes – M7542

I love it when ideas come together !!!

I saw this dress on Ashanti a little over a month ago and fell in love !!

The dress was from Charles and Ron\’s Spring collection . They decided to play with fun colors and flouncy sleeves for this collection and I love every piece !

The dress is right on trend for this spring and the colors just made it so fun I had to sew it up.
I knew that I would not be able to find the exact fabric that the designers used so I decided to to go with an African fabric that I purchased from Fine Fabrics in Norcross Ga.

In order to create this look, I went with McCall Pattern 7542

Because this is the \” Year of the Sleeve\” this pattern has become very popular among other sewers! The varied sleeve options really allow you to play around and create different looks using different prints and fabrics. For my look, I decided to use a White Poplin for the contrast fabric.

Alterations

To make the bodice, I shorten both pattern pieces by folding them at the waistline.

Once folded I cut them out as normal.

I extended the upper sleeves 3 inches.

For the pleates, I used the provided pattern piece but doubled the width ( my piece is folded).

I love how it turned out, the poplin fabric really helps define the sleeves.

However, there are a few things I want to do differently next time. I extended the width of the sleeve because I knew it had to be folded and I wanted a longer sleeve but, it made the fabric stiffer. Next time I will use a lighter fabric or different sleeve option.

The pattern itself was a breeze to alter to achieve the look that I wanted. In order to get the bottom half of the dress, I simply cut to rectangle panels of fabric ( on the fold ) to my desired length. I used one panel for the front and one for the back then stitched them together. I gathered both pieces and attached them to the bodice matching side seams.