McCall's 7344 - Children's raglan sleeve dress

This was a fun and spontaneous project! I was hitting up the pattern sale at Joann's and browsing around at their fabric, like one does on a Thursday after work 😎 and I saw their doodles line. I usually don't find their fabric to be the best quality for apparel, my store is more quilting and fleece but I had seen a few makes online using their doodles fabric that were super cute and they had this pink unicorn print that I knew my nieces would love so I bought it totally on impulse!

Here it is in my cart!

It's a good thing there was also a pattern sale going on because I didn't have any patterns for the girls who are 2 and 4 years old. I picked up a few options and decided to make them M7344, a simple dress with little raglan sleeves.

I made top view B and bottom hem F (sleeveless with straight hem).

Sizing & Alterations
I will be honest and admit that I know nothing about sizing for kids patterns and very little about sizing for kids clothes. Thankfully, some peeps in an online sewing group were really helpful and gave me some suggestions, a couple of people even measured their kids who were similar in age as reference points!

Ultimately I learned that the pattern I bought wasn't the right size range for my little niece who is only 2 and wears a 2T in RTW. This is what happens when you buy patterns without measurements. Thankfully, I have now measured them so I will do better in future. Also, kids' pattern measurements are hilarious because there isn't even a range, it's one measurement! Clearly I should be sewing for kiddos more often as it seems much more straight forward.

I ended up making a size 3 for my 4 year old niece (I'd expected to make her a 5 when I bought the pattern) who currently wears a 4T in RTW. Even the size 3 would have been too big for my 2 year old nice, who is much shorter. I kind of fudged her size a little by taking the size 3 and just moving the fold of the pattern piece about 1/5 inch past the edge when I cut it. I did this for the front and the back of the dress. I didn't take anything out of the sides so I wouldn't mess up the sleeve attachment. I also made it 3 inches shorter because she is a lot shorter than her sister, even though their chest measurements are pretty close.

I am one lucky auntie because both dresses fit!

And since the patterns I bought are too big for them, that means I can use them a long time. Bonus!

Directions
So, I started sewing the first dress together without reading the directions and messed it up. When I actually read the directions, they were very clear and made sense. This pattern would be a great beginner project.

They also sewed up really quick, I traced the pattern, cut them out and serged them together on my Brother 1034D in less than one day. I hemmed the dresses with my double stretch needle to finish the bottom, my standard practice for knits. My hems are wavier than I'd like and looking back I should have used a stabilizer.

These little dresses also use very little fabric, which is good if you are still practicing. The pattern envelope specified 3/4 of yard of fabric at 60" wide and I bought 2 yards for my two dresses to account for shrinkage and I could probably make another dress out of what I have left. When I make dresses for myself I usually buy 3 yards for one dress!

I used some scrap purple to trim the little one's so they're easier to tell apart.

Update:

It's been some years and new nieces have joined the family! I made this pattern again for a new little niece who is only 18 months old and already wearing a 3T! I had way too much of this pink unicorn fabric but it's getting used up! This is also a good reason to trace kid's patterns because you never know when they'll come back around. I made view D for her, with sleeves.

I made one small change and put bands on the sleeves rather than hemming them. I like the contrast purple used for the neckband to be carried through. I measured the opening of the sleeve and did 90% of the opening for the length of my band + .25" seam allowance and I made it 2" wide. 

These are the smallest sleeve bands I have sewn in quite a while!


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