I am excited to have finished this shirtdress made of 100% cotton dark wash chambray so that I can wear it for the Fall and beyond.
Chambray shirtdress with 1/2 front placket and button tabbed sleeves
I really like the ease of wearing denim as well as the comfort of a dress, so this light weight denim a.k.a. chambray is a perfect combination.
back of shirtdress
I plan to wear this dress with a belt, boots & tights, maybe a scarf or fun jewelry, or even flat or strappy sandals for spring.
Here are some images that I pinned on my Pinterest board Sew Love-Dresses
I used McCalls 6885 (also labeled as MP345) to make this dress. It was a fairly easy dress to make, it just took time to cut out and mark the pattern carefully, to top stitch most of the seams as straight as I could, and make the major seams into flat felled seams which took time. I could have taken shortcuts and just serged most of the seams, but I didn’t want to do that. Instead, I made the side, shoulder and sleeve seams flat felled seams to prevent fraying and give a nice, finished look, and finished the armhole sleeve using my serger.
The pattern envelope certainly does not indicate that this is a cute, fashionable dress pattern to make by using an ugly floral printed fabric, the shapeless styling and the dorky matching old-lady hat:
Pattern envelope cover
I feel bad for the cute, young model who had to sport this look. Definitely not her best day in front of the camera thanks to this outfit.
Thank goodness the illustration for view D saved the pattern from being a complete frumpy disaster and gave some life and hope for this pattern:
McCalls 6885 view D
Hence, view D is what I went with, accept that I made the hem of the dress straight, as in view C of the pattern, and I chose not to make the matching, attached tie belt as I knew I would want to wear one of my own belts with this dress.
In my new shirtdress
Back of dress
Worn with a Banana Republic leather belt and scarf and Sorel boots.
I am very pleased with my new casual dress and will wear it often! I might even make this up again in other colors and fabrics.
Yay for sewing! How I love you so!
odetosew 
Love, Love, Love. I have this on my table, sigh… Just need a few more hours in the day, and a few more days in the week. Lend a hand, will you?
Hi Andrea! I squeezed this one between other projects that I really should have been working on! I just HAD to have it! We’ll catch up & chat soon 🙂
What a great dress! And so versatile…
Thank you! I am excited about it and know I will wear it often 🙂
This is really cute and I love the way you styled it! I find it oddly satisfying when a terrible pattern envelope photo is actually a really nice pattern…just as you demonstrated here!
Thank you Carrie! I feel the same way about terrible pattern illustrations, and feel tremendous satisfacation when a little vision and creative thinking can be transform them into something actually cute!
This dress looks really cute on you!
Thank you so much Lucy!
Yours turned out great! No frumpiness at all : ). I was hoping to make this over the summer but haven’t gotten around to it yet! Hopefully, I’ll be inspired by yours!
Thank you Norie! This is a great pattern for summer as well, even throw on a cardigan and you are good to go for Fall. You should make it for yourself! It didn’t take me too long to cut & sew, just a few hours here and there over a few days, totally worth the time and effort!
Fabulous. Love this. An dthe PINS are awesome too. Great transformation of that pattern.Inspired for sure!
Thank you! I love Pinterest for sewing and fashion inspiration, such a great resource for ideas!
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