McCall 6069, Double Cowl Dress

There have been a ton of great versions of McCall 6069 and y'all know how much I love a knit dress so I had to hop on the bandwagon.

I love the sexy low cowl back, but wanted something I could wear to the office. A sexy low back and a strap across the back of the neck to hold it in place would be taking it a little too far for me. I considered following Kyle's lead and using the front of C for the back, but instead decided to raise up the back cowl by reducing the width as shown.

This did bring the back up to office-wearability, but did pretty much nothing to make it easier to wear without that back strap. The first time I wore it I had to bring the shoulders back into place literally every 15 seconds. I looked ridiculous walking down the street constantly twitching it onto my shoulders.

I came home and sewed coins into the front and back cowl facings to keep them from flipping out and add some weight to keep it on my shoulders and an elastic strap running between the armscyes in the back.

I tested these solutions out before wearing this again yesterday and I could tell it wasn't going to be enough (though the cowls were hanging better) so I resorted to the nuclear option: pinning it to my bra straps (luckily, with my raised cowl back I can wear a racerback bra, so the bra straps weren't going to fall off my shoulders). This is why I need those bra strap keepers! Safety pins are ok for now but when I am back in the gym and changing in and out of my clothes twice a day (at lunch and after work) I'll be wanting some snaps. Although I guess by the time I get back to the gym the season for sleeveless dresses will be over, sob!

There's not much more to say about this easy dress. It's great for a border print because the skirt hem is straight. I used the large dot border at the top and bottom in the hope of creating an hourglass illusion.

I used the pockets because I thought I'd want someplace to clip/store my work ID, but after it was finished I realized that it needed a belt over that elastic casing so I can just clip my ID to the belt. I might cut out the pockets, as the outline shows through my thin poly knit.

I appreciated McCall's sewing instructions for this as it included thoughtful, professional details like sewing the pockets to the side seams at a 3/8" seam so the pockets roll to the inside when the side seams above and below the pockets are sewn in 5/8". I also appreciated the way the shoulder seams were sewn, which encloses to the facings and creates a clean finish.

If I make this again for work, I will definitely use plain front C as the back so it is not so fussy to wear. Also, the shorter cowl just looks kind of like a hood that get caught up. For a beach vacation or going out on summer evenings, the dress with the full length cowl back and neck strap would be gorgeous.

I took these photos before The Injury. I was going to re-do them because I forgot that I can't wear my glasses when taking afternoon pictures in my bedroom (it faces west) because of the awful glare. Now that I have more perspective, I decided that glasses glare is better than The Boot!

All photos are here and the pattern review is here.