5oo4 – Calypso Dress for Momma Mia

Calypso may be a sea goddess in the Pirates of the Caribbean, but it is also turns out to be a pretty fantastic pattern from 5 out of 4. I didn’t test this one, I was taking some time off of my crazy testing schedule when it came out and initially it wasn’t a pattern “I had to have!” Honestly, I HATE gathering. HATE HATE HATE it! My machine doesn’t like sewing single layers of double brushed poly or any lightweight knits actually. It can be so frustrating. So I knew this dress would stress me the heck out!! Only it didn’t! Guess who mastered gathering with her serger…This Girl! Psst: I have a video coming for you.

So let’s get to talking about Calypso.

This pattern actually has a lot of pieces. Each front piece also has a back piece, plus the sleeves, sleeve binding, sleeve ties and the neckband. Even with all those piece it was worth it. This is a great pattern and Momma Mia is beyond happy with it. She tried it on and didn’t take if off the entire time I was at her house. So back to all those bodice pieces, I am rather glad they did this. The first reason is that it breaks the length that needs gathered in half. When was the last time you needed to gather a 60 inch piece of fabric?? Trust me, it would be rubbish! Impossible to make even, you’d break gathering threads, you’d cry out of frustration, maybe end up in a fetal position. It could get ugly.  I also felt that the staggered layers made it fairly easy to grade between sections of the body. Either way, I like it!

In addition to the girly silhouette of the dress, there are these epic sleeves. How pretty are the bound edges and the ties? Better than your basic sleeve, not a ton of extra work. I will be slapping these babies on some other garments! They are also giving me some hacking ideas…heck yea! I think I will make the ties slightly longer next time, as I have trouble tying neat little bows. I did knot the ends because my stitching wasn’t perfection on the tails.

The Women’s Calypso Top and Dress pattern includes the following:

• Short, 3/4, or long sleeves with a cute bow detail.
• Top or Knee-length skirt length for the dress
• Sizes XXS – 5X (see the last image for yardage and size chart)
• Check out this awesome YouTube video of our testers’ creations!

This fabric nearly caused a knock down, drag out brawl (internet version BTW) when Laura offered it up to the promo team. Nanner! Nanner! Nanner, I got it first! I knew Momma Mia would love it and I wanted her to have a new dress. She loves the color green. The pretty pops of colors of the flowers was a bonus. This print is called Trixie! Stitchinpretties has this beautiful double brushed poly fabric and it is on sale 25% off (Code is in the Facebook group) right now! Run, Don’t walk and get it into your cart. Laura will get it shipped out to you in no time flat! I live in Ohio, Stitchinpretties is way up there in Maine and my fabric arrives in 2-3 days! That is service and that is why I support small businesses!

Are you ready to sew up your next favorite dress? Here is the link for the Calypso. Your summer wardrobe thanks you!

Trixie – Double Brushed Poly.

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