I’ve been loving sewing dresses lately. I don’t have a ton of occasions to wear them to, so I find that I just wear them around the house as house dresses. The M7742 dress is a great flowy dress for an occasion or for wearing around the house too! It’s an unstructured flowy dress with a few available modifications to that you can get the style you want.
Choosing fabric + sizing
For my version of the M7742, I went with a cotton shirting that I got at Britex fabrics. I couldn’t pass up the super cute beach print. The shirting is great for the dress because it gives it a really relaxed look. It’s structured but not as structured as a heavier linen – which would give the dress a less flowy look. My only issue with the fabric I chose is that its not opaque at all. It makes a better beach cover up than a dress.
I wasn’t exactly sure what size to choose for the pattern since its so unfitted and loose. Technically, my measurements would put me at a 2/4, but I ended up going with the 0. I was nervous that sizing down that much would ruin the loose fitting look of the dress but it didn’t at all. The dress is very oversized in my opinion, so sizing down was totally fine.
Sewing the M7742
This dress is such an easy make. It’s pretty much just a tent dress with a few different modification options. I made option A which has ruffled sleeves. The sleeve ruffle was probably the trickiest part, but if you’ve sewn a gather you probably won’t have much trouble with it. The necklines are finished with facing which I always find to be a fairly easy way to finish a neckline.
The pattern has a few different options – lengthening the sleeves, adding a ruffle – but there are also some good hacks that I’ve seen on Instagram. A few people added an additional tier to the bottom of the dress. That particular hack probably requires a fair amount of extra fabric – but it creates a really nice long, flowy, muumuu style dress.
Final thoughts
Overall, I really liked sewing this pattern. This was my first time trying it and I will likely do it again! It’s just an easy to sew and easy to wear piece for my wardrobe. Next time, though, I will probably pick an opaque fabric so that I can more regularly wear it.
