NEW McCALL'S SUMMER Sewing Patterns: My Honest First Impressions

Hi you guys, and welcome back to the channel. A brand new McCall's sewing pattern collection has arrived, and you know what that means, it's time for another first impression review. Today we're going to go through every one of the patterns in the new summer collection. I will share what I love, maybe what I don't love, some things that beginners should consider, and any other thoughts that come to mind as I'm looking at these patterns for the very first time. As always, these are my very first impressions of these patterns. I've never looked at them before. Sometimes some of them end up growing on me after my kind of initial look at them. Sometimes I can nail a community favorite right off the bat. Either way, feel free to agree or disagree with me in the comment section below. So, grab your favorite beverage. It's iced coffee for me. Get comfortable and let's see what McCall's has in store for us for summer. All right, we're going to be starting off with this very very likable dress pattern. It is a misses ruched halter dress in two lengths. We have sizes 6 to 16 and then 16 to 26. That is a lot of sizes, you guys. That's 12 sizes. I think it's only missing 4 and 28. So, that's about as as size inclusive as McCall's is ever going to get in one pattern. So, good to see that. Fit and flare halter dress, close fitting through the bust, features a square neckline with pleated bust overlay, halter straps that fasten with two buttons at the back of the neck. Uh, not my favorite. The bodice is secured with an invisible back zipper and is joined to a gathered skirt with hem bands for added movement and structure. Side seam pockets. Um, view A ha- view A has a skirt 5 in above mid-knee. That feels short. Um, views B and B views B and C are lower calf length, and view C has a contrast. They used in this one here a medium-weight linen woven in navy blue stripes, very classic. All right, let's take a look at this. I mean, it couldn't be more adorable. Obviously, it's a little bit vintage-inspired. Halternecks have started like creeping back into our lives for the last, I don't know, year or so. This is an adorable take on one. What a really standout dress. It's modest, it's cute, it looks expensive and well-made. So, I love to see that. The blue stripe is really just the perfect thing to make this sample out of for sure. So, this is the shorter version. They did a little play on the stripes here. And they did vertical on the skirt and horizontal on the addition. 5 in above mid-knee. I guess it's not that short. Like I'm I'm measuring on myself. Um it would certainly change the look of it a lot. I don't know, 5 in above mid-knee, I might want to just lengthen this part and leave this off. It feels like it would be really choppy with such short amount of body space to work with. Um then this is the one that contrasts. Kind of giving that looks a little like '90s, early 2000s to me. Not my favorite to block it like that. Color blocking, yes. Print blocking, absolutely. But this solid print solid, I don't know, that feels a little dated. Okay, and I'll talk about the buttons in the back. The reason why I don't like this is because it Some people will not be able to wear this simply because they don't have the dexterity in their fingers to loop those two buttons in the back. Other options would be to create like in a little extender and put some elastic in it so you can just pull it over your head, create ties. Obviously, that would have a bow on it and not be as clean as this. So, you'd have to make some modifications if you just have a hard time, you know, clasping things behind your neck. I totally get it. Um the construction could be a little bit better on this invisible zipper if I'm being honest. Not super invisible, but you can also see and we always see this. If you've been watching these videos for a while, you know, McCall's regularly has the bodices are too long. Um so, even though this is sitting at her natural waist where it should, you can tell it's trying to push up um to go up on her hips a little bit more and that's what's creating this length here. It's just smooshing the bodice down. Um but that's an easy remedy and honestly, you should be checking the length of your bodices anyways. I always have to make adjustments for that because I'm short-waisted. Um but even if you're not, you should be double double-checking those. Okay, so they're recommending lightweight woven fabrics like broadcloth, lightweight denim, linen, poplin, and satin. All great options for summer. That's something to remember when you're looking at these suggested fabrics is they're going to suggest fabrics that are ideal for the season that the pattern was released in. So, these are great for summer, but you can also make it in the fall, in the winter, in the spring um by choosing different types of fabrics. Still maintaining the same weight and drape as the suggested fabrics. So, some things that you might consider like in the fall and winter would be like lightweight wools. That would be an interesting choice for this. Um but you could choose Let me try and think. Um lightweight denim, linen, poplin, satin. Wow, that really is a lot of the options. Um canvas would be too stiff. Anything like challis, rayon, that would be too lightweight. You could probably pull it off, but it would be a completely different look. Like the skirt would fall in on you a whole lot more. You want to try and find something based on these that are mid-weightish um with some structure to them regardless of what season it is. And then we shouldn't have too much ease in this one. It looks like the bust has 1 and 1/2 inches of ease and the waist has 1 inch. That makes perfect sense to me. Um so if you're in between sizes, you know, keep that ease in mind. You will be adding or removing ease depending on whether you size up or down. All right, next up also Biscuit joined us. I told you she was She just can't help herself. She'll be here. Um this is a halter dress, another one in two lengths. This is a Laura Ashley reproduction, I guess. Uh 8 to 16 and 18 to 26 on the size range. This dress in either maxi or below the knee length features a fitted halter bodice with an empire waistline seam, back zipper, flared angled bodice back. Flared angled bodice back, okay. And a flared skirt with ruffles. Maxi dress includes two ruffles and can be made in one or two coordinating fabrics. The shorter dress has one ruffle along with lace trim and button accents. They use an embroidered cotton fabric in cream. Excuse me, I can't see the screen. Um a cream embroidered cotton. So it does look like we have a two different bodices as well. One has this like button and lace detail. And the other one is just plain. Um but it they both probably have these bust darts. Um there's tie in the back, so that kind of will show you what it would look like based on what I was talking about before. Gosh, she looks young, guys. She looks like 14, which is fine, but I think McCall's is I don't know. We can Older people can make the these dresses, right? My gosh. I I like this dress. I'm not 14. Is that weird? >> [laughter] >> Um and then we have the ruffle and again the lace trim on the bottom. Very, very Laura Ashley. And then the same thing with this print mixing. Super cute. Let's see. There she is again. That one's in a solid. There's a coordinating prints. All right. And then we've got this is the angled back they were talking about. Yes, it would prevent you from wearing a traditional bra. Um but you got to admit that really is pretty. This is like a a lap zipper or did I hear it called a railroad zipper recently? Has anyone heard of that? Um and then you've got the tie. I don't love this fabric in the tie. It's really stiff. Um I don't know if there's like a seam up here somewhere where you could change it out to something a little bit more lacier so it's not so I don't know, big and hard-looking. Um but the fabric is really great for the rest of the dress. So just that bow. Okay. So, let's see here. Broadcloth, challis, cottons, crinkle gauze, double georgette, eyelet, lawn, lightweight poplin, like sorry, lightweight linens and poplin. That pretty much covers all of those light to midweight um mid drape to I mean you do need some drape for the ruffles. So like the um double georgette will have a lot of drape to it. Satin challis will have a lot of drape to it. Um the rest of these are kind of structured for like relative to what they are. Um but you'll still be able to get the movement and be able to create the gathers which is the most important thing for this dress. I This is one of the better Laura Ashleys I've seen in a minute. So that's good. All you need for this one is a zipper and then if you're making the buttoned bodice, um, 3 3/8 inch wide buttons, 5 yards of 3/4 inch single edge scallop lace trim. That's going to get expensive. Uh, but it is really cute. I guess I wish that if I'm going to spend that much money on all that lace, I want to be able to see it more. So, maybe if this were a contrast color, possibly that could be cute. >> [laughter] >> Biscuit has opinions about that. Um, all right, and then the ease on this one, they're only giving us the bust because it's such a like empire waist thing happening. The natural waist is going to have a lot of ease to it, so does the hip. Um, but the natural the bust line has 1 inch of ease. So, that looks good. You can always, you know, we were talking about the back of this, you can always straighten this out a little bit like this if you want to be able to, you know, wear a traditional bra with it or you can add cups to the front cuz I'm 99% sure it's lined or something. Was there a lining or an underlining? Let's see. Um, lining. 5/8 of a yard. So, yeah, the bodice is lined. So, you could add a cup there. It wouldn't necessarily give you support, but it would give you coverage. Okay, now, what's next? We have, oh, cute, McCall's. My gosh. Okay. Um, misses and women's button front top, 10 to 18 on the misses and 20 to 28 on the women's. I say this every time because it's important to know that a 20 misses is not the same thing as a 20 women's. You will have like, uh, there will have been a full bust adjustment done on the women's sizes. If this were like a bottom or a pant, a full seat adjustment's probably included. So, it's not a it's not more size inclusive in that you still only have 10 sizes. It's just the middle of the misses and the middle of the women's. So, if you're an in-betweeny like I am, I'm like a 20 22 in misses, these don't really work for me. Um but, I don't know. I just wish that they created misses and then a whole separate number for women's. Like we're already halfway there. Just, you know what I mean? I don't know. Or like include four options for this. You know what I'm saying? Anyways, um close-fitting lined top features a sweetheart neckline with narrow shoulder straps, button and loop front closure, split hem for a flattering silhouette, back tie belt, okay, allows for an adjustable fit. View A has lace trim along the neckline, straps and hem. View B has plain finish. They used for the misses a stretch linen and in the women's version a floral printed medium-weight linen. Wow, they really are leaned into the linen this collection. Okay, so we've got the princess seams. We've got the pearl buttons with the loops. That is obviously a trend. We've seen that twice now. Um and it is a really really sweet detail. It does make it see-through. Like there's not going to be like a Oh, what's it called? I can't remember. A placket underneath. That's not the right word. Whatever. It's not going to have that underneath, so you will be able to see. I think under here they might have put another shirt um to help with that, but this little foldover detail, the lace trim inside, so so so cute. Um the length of it, that petticoat length, so adorable. Let's see the backs. The fit on both of them look really good, which I'm happy to see. I mean, so cute and chic, right? She's just stepped stepped off the train in the 1940s. Okay, here's the back. Okay, great. Yeah, it looks really good. This is very subtle shaping. I'm not even sure you would necessarily need that. Hers looks really good, too. Yeah. Yeah, these both look really really good. Awesome. Okay. All right. So, we are looking at cotton blends, cotton sateen, crepe, lightweight denim, linen, silk shantung. I think this, more so than any of the other patterns we've looked at, has the most variety in fabric. You could go midweight to heavyweight, um depending on the season. But, you do need some structure to it. Um it can have a little bit of drape, like the crepe is going to have some like fluid drape. Um but, you know, obviously the more structured it is, the more snatched it'll be. In my opinion, something like a cotton sateen or a stretch cotton blend, um stretch denim would be best because you would really be able to get it, you know, close-fitting. Um the finished garment measurements, the bust is 1 and 1/2 inches, and the waist is 2 inches. So, you see there's not a lot of wiggle room there with that. that fabric that stretches will really help it be like a little bit more wearable and comfortable. But, you can make this out of a lot of different things. And also, I want to point out, too, that on the front, this is all one, right? It's not interrupted by a seam right here, which is kind of unique. So, you could play into stripes or directional fabrics, or even color blocking would be really impressive with this because this is all one piece. Now, that obviously wouldn't happen in the back, but on the front it would be pretty striking. >> [snorts] >> Okay. Early start, but good start. Misses tie front cutout dress. All right, I kind of thought we'd moved away from this. This feels like we just did this a few years ago. I don't know a lot of you Some of you out there are really good at saying, "Oh, no, no, no. That was this other pattern and they're just re-releasing it under this new number." Visually, my brain does not work that way. I have a terrible memory. I won't remember any of these once I finish filming and editing this video. Um but, this does feel familiar. Maybe cuz I have one like it. Uh the sizes on this one are 8 to 18 and then 16 to 26. Close-fitting dress featuring a bodice with tie detail and front cutout supported by narrow shoulder straps. Finished with an invisible back zipper, hook and eye closure. Choose from three lengths and variations. A is mini, B is lower calf, and C is floor. And they didn't even mention this, but the longer ones are going to have this little swoopy detail on the I don't know outer calf. They use a stretch cotton sateen in a floral print. So, yeah, this feels familiar and then they just changed out the skirt because I do not remember seeing a skirt with this detail. We've been seeing a lot where this part is happening up here. Equally cute. This is getting more of a It's not a fishtail mermaid. I don't know what this style of dress is called, but it does make it look fancy. Um this one's really cute. You could definitely do like this in a denim and have it be for like a more of a casual event. And then you can do this one in a a of different fabrics and prints and sheens and all the things and you could go to like an event in this if you wanted to. Um not saying I would necessarily go to Target in this, but um even in the most casual fabric, probably not to Target, but there is a lot of variety in where you can wear each of these versions. All right. Oh. The delivery man is here. Wait, wait, wait. No, no, no. >> [laughter] >> All right. Um the fit on her is really good. Right? All of her goods are locked and loaded in there. I don't know that she has a lot of goods to have to worry about, but it is really pretty sweetheart design. You can see the little tie here. Can you wait? Um and then the back for all that I say about McCall's bodices being so long, this one's pretty perfect. Pretty, pretty perfect. All right. And then, here, I'm going to let you down. Cotton sateen, jacquard, linen, satin. Yeah, you can see the satin would be kind of more holiday. Um jacquard kind of has a little bit more of that special occasion type vibe to it. Um what is the ease on this? On the hip especially, we have 2 and 1/2 inches, the waist has 1 and 1/2, and the bust has two. But you can probably tie that tighter if you wanted. So, given that the ease requirements are so or the ease in the pattern is so small, having something like a stretch denim, stretch satin, stretch linen, stretch whatever you can find would allow you to like sit more comfortably, bend over, you know, do all of those kinds of things at the closest fitting part of this. But other than that, I mean the fabric might be a little bit expensive. Some of these are getting up to the three yard requirement. Um, but you only need a an invisible zipper. So, the notions aren't the notions list isn't huge. So, >> [clears throat] >> um, that part of it would maybe outweigh what you would spend on fabric. That's my sewing math. All right, we've got a misses and miss petite dress with detachable tiered skirt. Okay, do you want to hear a funny story? From the time that I was like, I don't know, middle school, high school, I would always tell myself, "When I get married, I'm going to wear a wedding dress to the ceremony that has like this big skirt. And then for the party, I'm going to remove the skirt and have like a party dress." And at that time, in the 1900s, that was like revolutionary. People that I told about that were like, "Oh my god, that's the best idea." And now, not only is that a very common thing in bridal, but now here we are and like a sewing pattern, we have it. So, I was just such a forward thinker. Who knew? Who knew? >> [snorts] >> Okay, so sizes 6 to 16 and then 16 to 26. So, the misses petite portion of this only means that the pattern is going to have horizontal lines marking bust, waist, and hip to make it easier for you to shorten the lengths of things. It's not necessarily going to be smaller sizes. All of these are still misses sizes, but it will allow you to shorten things so that they are they fit your body better. Okay, drop waist dress and line drop waist dress line and close fitting through bodice has princess seams, narrow straps, invisible back zipper with hook and eye, structured with boning for support. Okay. Tiered skirt sections attached to the lining with separating zippers to create a mini, below mid-calf, or floor length looks. They zip apart. Okay, that's one way to get it done. They used a brocade for this. Um Okay, well, and here she is in all three lengths. I mean, that is a really pretty brocade fabric. So, this is what everyone has and then somewhere under here this zips on and then under here somewhere this zips on. That is so interesting. What if you just made it in this version and then depending on where you're going, you just add a layer if you want. That's pretty cool. That's pretty cool. Here we go. Walking, walking, walking. Um the fit on her again looks pretty good. It is a drop waist. Okay, so it is going to sit much lower on the waist. Probably a lot closer to your high hip than you would realize. Um [snorts] but it has this really pretty princess seaming and then the gathers in the skirt. And then this looks like a blind hem or something. That's pretty cute. Oh, yeah, and here's how it works. So, there's a lining underneath. And then you zip the lining. Huh. Huh, huh, huh, huh. Okay. Yeah, that would be one way to do it. That would be one way to do it. Okay. Here's the back. You do have the thinner straps. Again, princess seams here. A lapped zipper? No, invisible zipper here. And then all your tiers. How interesting. I'm curious to know if you guys feel like this is super practical. I mean, I kind of do, but then again, I wonder like I like the mini version the best. I mean, it's still wearable to me. Like, am I really going to be zipping on all the other layers? Or what if it were like a date and night? What if you like wore your little mini dress with a jacket during the day and then at night time you start zipping on your skirt I don't know. The whole idea of that is like in terms of like how practical it is for regular lifestyles, it's really kind of getting my brain going. It's so interesting. Yeah. Okay, so brocade, jacquard, satin, sateen, shantung are what they're recommending. Those are all pretty uh special occasion type fabrics. You don't have to use those, but these are all kind of like mid to heavy No, midweight, but lots of structure. Uh mostly probably for that bodice with the boning. You could go a little bit less weight and less structure. Like if you went down to a denim or a linen, you could probably do that too. Like a midweight when midweight denim, midweight linen. Um But yeah, there's it doesn't have to be fancy. All right. And then you'll need your boning, your invisible zipper, and then the separating zippers. Those can be kind of expensive. And then fit-wise, we've got 1 in of ease in the bust. We've got 1 and 1/2 in the waist and Oh, the hip because of the lining. Is that what's happening? So that's why we have an actual hip measurement here of 33 4 2 and 1/2 in. Which Which I guess you could No. No, you'd have to use that lining as is. So, yeah, that is somewhat limiting, I guess, cuz it looks like Oh, fit and flare, but really underneath it's fitted. Which also, I've done this before. If you just use the Oh gosh, if you just use the bodice and then the fitted lining piece, but you make it all out of the same self fabric, then you technically have a fourth version where it's just fitted all the way down. You know what I mean? Like if you didn't use it as a lining, you use it as an actual pattern piece, then you'd have another another option with this dress as well. Does that make sense? Okay, and we have this misses shirt with belt and wrap skirt in two lengths. Shirt with belt and wrap skirt, so three pieces. 6 to 16, 16 to 26. Very loose-fitting shirt features a classic collar with collar band, front button closure, cargo-style chest pockets, low armholes, short sleeves with turn-back cuffs and epaulets. Skirt includes matching self belt with D-rings and offered in two lengths. Asymmetrical wrap effect. Skirt sits at the natural waist with a center back zipper and hook and bar in two length options. They used a cotton twill for this. Um okay, it's an interesting take on like a suit kind of. Uh it's giving more business than it is casual, but definitely casual with the pockets and the sleeves and everything else. So, um yeah, you would have to have mean I wouldn't wear it to court or anything. I mean, I guess you could. I don't know. This feels kind of like a little bit more professional than maybe I don't know. It's both. It's professional, but also not. I like that about it. Um let's see what kind of pictures we get. So, the armholes are humongous. They go down past your your line. So, you're probably going to have to wear something under this so that you can't see inside the sleeve cuz they're just so big. Um then you have the belt that you wear on top of everything. I don't know, this kind of hides the wrap portion of the skirt. I wonder if they'll give us any pictures of her. Okay, just skirt. I'd love to see that. We have some top stitching details, some like really pretty origami type pleating to create that like a little bit of a tulip effect. And then she's got her little kitten heel, little bag. Yeah. Oh, here's the back. Oh, they tucked that belt into the back. And then we've got I don't know what this is about. Why do we have Oh, I guess it's like princess seams back here. Okay. Yeah, they're not going to show I wanted to see what the shirt looks like completely undone. I guess technically you could have separates, right? You could wear this with shorts or something. And then you have the skirt so you can wear it separately as well. I just don't know what the shirt looks like without the belt. You know what I'm saying? So, the back of the envelope is the suggested fabrics are going to be cotton sateen, lightweight denim, linen blends, twill. That's pretty all encompassing. You're looking for light to midweight wovens with not a ton of drape at all, actually. Um you could have something with a little bit more drape, like if it were like a rayon linen blend, that would have more drape to it. Um but linen would be the the main the main gig. And then the finished garment measurements are going to be on like not on here. I get with the shirt they don't really matter. The skirt waistband would have been helpful. Actually, the skirt hip too would have been helpful, but c'est la vie. All right, so next up we have a Mrs. and women's one shoulder top and skirt in two lengths. We are looking at sizes 10 to 20 and 22 to 32. So, that is going to be like the higher end of the Mrs. and the higher end of the women's. Close-fitting aligned one shoulder top featuring front princess seams, back waist start, separating side seam zipper, top stitching. Skirt sits at natural waist with a pointed yoke, full gathered silhouette, side seam pockets, invisible center back zipper, and top stitching. They made theirs out of linen, red and gray. All right, let's take a closer look. So, having a lined garment in a McCall's pattern is always a win. You get those really beautiful finishing details for not quite as much money as like a Vogue pattern would be. So, I love to see that. Plus, like the finish of this is going to be a lot more clean and beautiful than if you did a binding or even a facing. Um we do have the princess seams, which it looks like they top stitched this. Possibly, they did this one, too. I just can't really tell. Um fit-wise of the top, I Asymmetrical tops are not my favorite. I've I've said that before. I just don't love them on myself, and more often than not, I see fit issues with them a lot. You can really tell on the women's how this needs to go up here. This is very low. This is like boob. >> [laughter] >> This is side boob right here. So, we need this to not be so swoopy, you know? This panel here can definitely be flattened out and raise the side seam a lot. Not so obvious on hers. Maybe it's just she's not as angled toward us, or you know, it's the Mrs. version, so it could just fit totally different. On hers, I see a lot of gapping here. That is a super easy fix as well. Plus, it's kind of personalized to your cup size, so that would be something that we would be looking at fixing with our muslins anyways. Um the skirt, I've talked about this um design before in one of the other summer collections. This pointed yoke thing is been it's trending. It's everyone's doing it. They've been doing it um pretty steadily for a couple of years, but it feels like this year more than ever, it's just like all I see over and over and over again. So, it's a little bit like of a western vibe paired with the kind of chic asymmetrical top. You know, they go together cuz the fabrics match, but you know, I'm kind of like, "Where, you know, I don't know." They're kind of saying two different things. I would wear them more so as separates myself. Um but as a whole cohesive look, the way it kind of looks like a dress, that that's kind of cute. Um okay, there's that picture again. There's hers again. Same thing here. I That might even be the same picture. All right, here is the back. The back has a really nice fit on the top. The skirt has a center back zipper. I would have preferred if they would have had the zipper on the side to match the top. I mean, if these two things are intended to be worn together, I would like to see this completely smooth and uninterrupted just like this is. >> [snorts] >> See how this is like a really nice natural transition? This kind of is just like, "Whoa, what's that?" coming from nowhere. Um so, if I were to make this, I'd cut this on the fold and move my zipper over to the left side. Um but the skirt, from what we can see, yeah, the skirt is nice. I wonder about this style on me because I do have a fuller bum, and it's like not necessarily wide as it is bubbly. So, I just don't know how all these gathers would do on like a bubble butt. >> [clears throat] >> Um maybe that's why I've kind of been like, you know, a little bit leery of this this little trend that's happening. But, we've got woven such a chambray denim linen satin and twill. We're saying that a lot this collection. It's It's feeling a little bit fall if I'm being honest. I thought for summer we'd be seeing a lot more like shally, seersucker. Um we'd be seeing more eyelets, things that are lightweight, easy breezy. A lot of this stuff is pretty structured, which is an interesting choice for a summer collection. But, notions wise you just need that top stitching thread, two zippers. They did include a ribbon for the hanging strap. That's a really thoughtful detail. And then fit garment measurement wise, we don't have that on this one. So, you're going to want to pay attention to the bust obviously for the top and then the waist for the skirt most notably possibly the hip because it does look like this might be the hip line. So, there would be not as much ease as way down here where the skirt is really full from all the gathers. All right, next we have this denim skirt, misses and women's skirt. Now, this is the third combo misses and women's pattern we've had this collection. Again, they're not my favorite because they're not necessarily more sizes. There's just a few women's and a few misses. I wish that they would just do a full women's range and a full misses range. Have four options here. I've seen them do it before. That makes more sense to me because you are really alienating the smaller size of misses, the upper size of misses, and the upper size of women's. So, people are being eliminated from this. It's not necessarily more inclusive. Anyways, I talked about that before. I don't need to dwell on it again, but having three patterns, if that's is the way that they're going to continue to go, combining them, then let's just get more, at least three, you know, three size options, maybe. I don't know. We have a high waist flared jean style skirt features waistbands with a button closure, fly front zipper, belt loops, classic jean pockets in front and back. View A is lower calf, view B is ankle length. They made theirs in denim. Okay, so we have from the hip up, kind of like a traditional jeans, but we do have these princess seams here. It does look like instead of the pattern pieces just being trapezoids, they're they're shaped. So, it is getting a little bit See how much volume is down here, almost like a circle skirt would be. It's because they're kind of a little bit flared out at the bottom. So, that is a really nice elevated drafting detail. Happy to see that. Um other than that, I mean, it is just another jean skirt. I don't know that we need another jean skirt added to the lexicon of the all the sewing patterns that we have that kind of look like this. Um maybe I don't know. Maybe quality over quantity. Like, let's focus on giving a collection like some really good trends, some really good unique details, rather than just another basic thrown in, and just pull the basics from the catalog that you've been, you know, building for 50, 60 years, you know? Get the best of the basics and just always keep that online. I don't know. All right, so suggested fabrics cotton sateen, denim, midweight canvas, and twill. Again, it's like those bottom weight fabrics. I mean, you could make this out of something lightweight, but it would be you would have to eliminate all of the denim details from it. So, that would be pointless. You would just pick another pattern for that. This really does need to have some weight and structure to it to be able to hold up to just everything that's going on on the top half of it. But, you'll need a jean zipper, jean buttons, and heavy-duty heavy-duty topstitching thread. Those are easy to source. They're not the cheapest things in the world, but they are easier to find these days. And then, the waist we have 2 in of ease. Did it say where it sat? If 2 in of ease, it's going to sit like a little bit below your natural waist. It's just going to fall down a little bit. Maybe that's where it's intended. It's not supposed to sit up high on your waist. I don't think it said. And then, the hip is um got 3 in of ease. I'm surprised there's not more in there given But yeah, I guess it's it doesn't really start out to it doesn't really start to flare out until the bottom. So, um it does say high-waist. 2 in of ease for a high-waist, I don't know about that. Especially if you're in between sizes and you're getting like 2 and 1/2 in of ease, that's too much for a high-waisted. So, pay attention to the waist for sure if you go to make this. All right, now we have Mrs. Utility-inspired dress, okay? This is sizes 6 to 14 and 14 to 22. Square-neck utility dress with wide straps, close-fitting bodice, flared skirt. Design details include patch pockets with flaps and bold topstitching. Front separating zipper with heavy-duty snaps create a strong utility look while allowing for easy wear. Length variations are mini to maxi, and they made theirs out of a yellow denim. So, yeah, this is kind of like I don't know, it's giving like apron. It's giving like welder apron specifically. >> [laughter] >> Um maybe like a little bit of like a carpenter vibe as well. It is definitely utility. I Some things I do like about this, the hidden invisible zip the hidden zipper in here with just the flap crossing over. That is really well executed on this. I do like all of the details. I'm not so sure it's necessarily my style. I'm not this girly rugged, but I know some people I can picture them in my mind, people who are going to be able to pull this off really, really well and look exceptional. Um maybe not for me, but I'm wondering if you removed some of these I mean, those shaped pockets are really beautiful, but if you removed some of them, what would you be left with? Would that still be cool, or does that defeat the whole purpose? It probably defeats the whole purpose. But, I do really like this. I like the crisscross, the top stitching. I mean, this is a beautiful dress. It does have like a drop waist situation. So, you know, it's kind of it's not looking like that so much here, but here it's giving kind of like mermaid. Um with all the volume that is in this circle skirt essentially that is attached to this. So, that's an interesting thought. It really is like it really is like some I don't even know. Like I I know where you would wear this, obviously. It's it's a really cute daytime outfit, but it is elevated even though it's utility. It's It's Yeah, the the Venn diagram of this is a lot of different things going on here. All right, there she is again. Let's me see the fit of the top here. So this kind of scoops down. Obviously, it is a little bit big on her. To be expected for a, you know, the garment wasn't made for her. She obviously didn't make it herself and it wasn't made to her measurements. So we do have some gaping. Not the worst that I've ever seen though. This is definitely passable, definitely wearable. I mean, you just being super nitpicky. If I saw her in the streets in this exact thing, I'd be like that's fine. You know, I wouldn't be like, "Whoa, that looks so big on her." I don't think it's like that. But there is that must be the longest version, right? Or does she have the longest version? Maybe this is the That's a mini, obviously. Maybe this is the midi length. And then here's the back. Here's the thing about drop waist. Similar to that pointed yoke, I don't know how great this looks on a bubble butt. And I'm not willing to spend the time to make something to figure that out. I need to go to a store and try on a Is it It's mermaid, right? A mermaid dress and see what I think of of that. But yeah, you can see here too how it's just a little bit little bit big on the sides for her. All right, the back is going to have those same suggested fabrics that we've seen over and over and over again, right? Isn't this feeling more like fall? Can't you see that? If it weren't a sunshine yellow color, it would be a fall pattern, don't you think? Um okay, and then finish garment measurements. There is only 1 and 1/2 inches of ease in the bust. She must be in between sizes maybe and she's getting closer to two. The waist has 1 and 1/2 as well and then the hip has four. So the waist and the hip I'm not too worried about, but that um that bust here, because it does swoop down a little bit, you won't be able to wear a bra with this or your at least your bra strap would the band would show. Um but that part. This you do have some op- opportunities to snatch the waist with these um seams that they have like these princess seams. And then yeah, the this is going to be a fitted hip. They say that there's 4 in of ease. I don't know if I'm seeing 4 in of ease in her hip though. If we go back here, like I think that this is the natural This is the her hip line. Um maybe they were measuring a little bit a little bit lower, but I would check this measurement on your hip if I'm going to make this um to make sure it fits. But you do again have more seams in here to play with so that you can um so that you can get the fit. Remember, like I said before, we have um 1 in for every seam there is, so that's 1 2 3 4 5 6 uh around the waist and then the hip. I don't know if these extend down far enough or not, but in the front at least in the back they do. So that would at least be 1 2 3 4 in that you have to play with there. All right. What is next? Okay, this is our last pattern. Um this is a misses and miss petite sleeveless dress. Okay, the deal with misses petite is that it's not necessarily smaller sizes, but it's going to have um lines on the pattern where you can shorten things cuz petite doesn't always mean small. Petite means short. Um so you will be able to play around with, you know, the torso length the length from the waist to the hip and then the hip to the hem. This comes in sizes 6 to 14 and then 14 to 22. So see we're not even at the smallest of the misses range. Sleeveless button front fit and flare dress features princess seams that open into front back front and back inverted pleats along with cut-in armholes and V-neckline with exaggerated pointed collar. Dress can be made mini length with or without contrast collar or in a mid-calf length. Okay. So, I think that's a little misleading. It's making it sound like you can leave the collar off. I don't think that you can do that easily without redrafting the at least the finish of the neckline. It's made It's intended to be made with the collar. I think what they're saying is optional is the contrasting. That part is optional. But, some things that I love, these princess seams opening up into these inverted pleats, that's so cute. It's giving kind of like a little bit of like a Tennessee vibe, but the collar really does take it away from sporty, which is nice. They said that there was a cut-in sleeveless situation. Like you can see here, this is teeny tiny. There's a lot more here. So, I would like to see this cut in even more. And it does also It's hard to see on this picture, but it looks a little high. The the armhole depth feels a little bit small. There's that same one. Let's see if we get a closer up picture of her. Well, I don't know, but you can see her. Okay, yeah, it's it's close. I think again, if this weren't extended so far out and it were cut in more, this would feel a little bit more natural. It's not at the place where it would be like uncomfortable when she puts her arms down. It's not pulling anywhere. I just think we need to cut this in a little bit more. Here's the back. The back armhole looks good, but you can see how we're like filling all of this in. If all of this were narrower through here, we'd come out like this. So, easy easy alteration to make. And then here's the back inverted pleats. Cute cute little mini dress. Um with and they do have the multiple lengths, so you could do mini or midi. This I think would be a little bit more elegant. This is a little bit more cute. But, really fun. Cute little design. I don't think I've seen anything like that before. Even without the collar, you don't see a lot of princess seams opening up into pleats like that. I love that. Okay, and then back of the envelope is cotton types, crepe, damask, denim, lightweight wool blends, linen types, and PK. All right, so we're starting to expand the suggested fabrics a little bit, including things that might be a little bit more summery. Not like the most summery fabrics. I mean, there's wool blends. I'm not wearing a wool blend of any kind in the summer. So, I wonder if this is a move. I know that they, you know, we're just bought and kind of independently owned at this point. Um they used a four-ply crepe on theirs. But, anyways, because there's that the fact that the the suggested fabrics that the the design to be meant for these kind of structured weightier fabrics, so many of them, and the fact that there's only 10 patterns, which, you know, normally McCall's has like 20 or so, I'm starting to see the effects of that transition into the more independently owned pattern company. If it were me, you know, you got to keep the Laura Ashley in here, that's fine. Um I would have ditched maybe one of these and moved one to the holiday collection and then ditch the skirt because we have denim skirts already and only included these few or maybe swapped those two out for something truly summery. Like I don't really feel like any of this is super summery. This is probably the only thing. All of these could be fall patterns and I wouldn't I wouldn't know the I wouldn't suspect anything weird. But that said, they are cute. Um, I'm not disappointed. They're cute patterns. These will sell. I'm happy to have them added to the entire collection of sewing patterns that are available to us. I just think choices were made. All right, that is the new McCall's summer collection. And now I want to hear from you. Which pattern is your favorite? Which one is already going on your sewing wish list? Which one do you think I might have gotten wrong in my opinions? Leave a comment below because half the fun of these videos for me and for you guys is to see what the comment section is all about. If you enjoyed this review, please be sure to subscribe and click the notification bell so you never miss one of my first impression videos again. I also have fabric reviews, sewing tips, all kinds of fun stuff on this channel. So, but that's going to do it for me today. Thank you all so much for watching and I'll see you all very soon. Bye.