Pattern Review- McCalls 6737 Girl's Top

Here is the pattern on the McCalls site: CLICKY

I've only made view D so far, because I love the zig-zag hemline. I'll probably make A or B at some point (or a combination of the two, as I don't really care for how the belly comes up in the middle on view A, but being that this is for my pre-teen daughter, I'm not sure how the frilly sleeves will look on her via view A. We'll see when I get there!)
So for now, I give you view D.

It does appear, in this photo, that I got the point of the front 'skirt' panel a little offcenter. And that could be the case. It's not quite so noticeable when she's not posing for a picture, so I'm not really sure whether it is offcenter or just how she's standing. And to be completely honest, neither one of us really care that much, so it's all good :)

 I've had this adorable western fabric in my hoard for  a long while now. It was just a small piece, so I have been  sitting on it waiting for the perfect item to use it with. The piece was probably a little over a yard wide  by 15-20 inches tall, so an awkward little piece that would only be good for a partial piece of clothing. It fit perfectly for the bodice of this shirt. I actually messed up the front part the first time I made it and had the outer print upside down!! Fortunately I had JUST ENOUGH left to just do a third layer on the front half of the bodice, so now the front half of the bodice has 3 layers, and the back half has 2.

I had another very small piece of this blue horseshoe fabric. Again, it was VERY wide, but very short. I wanted to use it in this shirt, but wasn't sure where. And I wanted something a little fancy where the shoulder straps connect to the bodice. The buttons and tassles here serve absolutely no purpose. They are only for cuteness :) The buttons are vintage plastic blouse buttons, they are blue with gold decoration around the center. After much discussion with my seamstress bestie about what to put on these tassles, we both came to the conclusion that these little buttons were perfect.





I used the length of the blue fabric with horseshoes to my advantage and made the waist tie with it, so that there was more than just the little tassles made from it.



The "skirt" is made from bandanas! I get them for $1 a piece, and I just knew they would be a great addition to this western shirt.

It is 4 pieces, so I used 2 of the same color for the overskirt, which is this cool multi-colored blue/green/yellow, and 1 solid white and 1 solid brown one for the underskirt, which you can barely see the points of on either of her sides.

The shoulder straps are made from a fifth bandana, this one solid dark blue. I cut it down to make wide (probably 3" wide) shoulder straps, then, because the bodice is made from a cotton woven and has no stretch, had to cut the shoulder straps and put snaps on them to make it easier for her to get on and off.

Her little sister wanted to get in on the pictures.

And every time I asked big sissy to turn, little sissy would too.

I made a couple of other items after I got done with this shirt, including another shirt for Sissy that I was not very happy with. My displeasure with that one caused me to come back to this pattern to make her another.

 Sissy is kind of obsessed with horses and all things cowgirl (what little girl doesn't go through that phase? Hers has just lasted for the last 6-8 years or so.) so I bought this knit horse fabric a very long time ago with the intention of making her a bedding set out of it. I never wound up getting enough to complete the set, so along with a lot of my other fabric, it has just sat waiting to be loved.

For this top, I had these 2 beautiful blue bandanas I wanted to use, but couldn't find any other bandanas that complimented it, or the horses well.



So I went back to my fabric stash and pulled out this pink cotton woven with brown rope print.









I used the pink woven for the waist tie, and the underskirt. I had her turn sideways this time to show off the underskirt.







We searched for a while at a few craft stores to find ribbon for the shoulder straps.



I never could find what I was looking for exactly (I wasn't exactly sure what I was looking for, but I knew I'd know it when I saw it... and nothing was jumping out at me like I was hoping it would.)


So we settled on this 5/8" turquoise grosgrain with little brown polka dots to compliment the brown horses with turquoise hearts and horseshoes on the bodice.

Now that it's on her, I actually wish I had made the shoulder ribbons much longer, so the tails from the bow would hang down, but it works. I also think I would have liked the waist tie to have been a bit longer. I do not remember how long I made it for the first shirt. I most likely followed the pattern on the length for that one, but for the second one I just measured 18 1/2" x 2 1/2" for each strap. I probably lost 1/2" on either side of the tie instead of 1/4" like I was hoping for, so it just made it a little shorter than I was hoping for. I may or may not go back and redo the ties. I have plenty of fabric, but I am going to see how much it bothers me over the next few times she wears it.

All in all this was a very easy pattern. Using fabric or bandanas for the skirt worked great. The bodice is 2 simple pieces you cut on the fold, and you can get creative with the shoulder straps to suit the shirt to your liking. I generally prefer her to have wider shoulder straps, so I don't like to go any more narrow on my ribbon than the 5/8" and even then, I wouldn't do just a single strap going across her shoulder. I prefer the bows to make the shoulders a bit more interesting.