Love and Paper Airplanes: Butterick 6412/6556 Mash Up

Hi! Happy Love Month! I can’t believe we have reached February already. Time seems to just fly by so quickly, doesn’t it? In honor of Valentines Day, and also in keeping with my New Year resolution to use more interesting prints in my sews, I made a themed dress in a very cute V Day pattern, just for the occasion.

In all honesty, I don’t really celebrate Valentines Day that much anymore. Back when the Hubs and I were dating we probably celebrated it more. Nowadays, if we do plan something special, it’s usually a nice dinner, and we include our two sons in the mix, because they are our special valentines, after all. This year, because of stupid COVID and because social restrictions are rearing their ugly head again, we may have to just plan a stay-home celebration, if any. Oh well. It is what it is. Anywhoo, back to my dress. Even if I don’t celebrate Heart Day, it doesn’t mean I can’t get into the holiday spirit and do something creative! And as you well know, my creative outlet is or course, sewing.

One good thing, I finally got around to using my Gertie patterns that have been in sitting unopened in my stash for so long! I really love the sweetheart neckline on the Butterick 6412. I contemplated doing the complete dress as is, but then I remembered I started liking the look of pleated skirts, and it just so happens that I have another Gertie pattern (Butterick 6556) that uses a pleated skirt for the bottom half. So I mixed the two together.

As for my print, I have been obsessed with this paper airplane design from Spoonflower for so long, and I finally got some yardage. Isn’t it so cute?

I took this at nighttime, under the fluorescent lights in my kitchen, so it’s not the best representation of color

Ok, onto sewing. Because I was using different patterns for the bodice and skirt, after cutting, I did the b6556 skirt first. It came together pretty quickly and easily because I had practice with pleats with my previous dress. They came out pretty well, methinks..

My first time doing box pleats

I admit I was weary at first with sewing the bodice. It looks great finished, but I was anticipating the construction to be complicated. We’ll, my worrying was unnecessary. I was able to put it together with no issues.

The bodice is constructed in eight pieces and sewed together with curved princess seams. Then a facing gets sewn into the shoulders and neckline. I’m realizing that facings in general tend to annoy me more often than not, so I’m looking to do alternative neckline finishes in the future. However, since I already cut out my pattern pieces, I followed the directions as stated. After attaching the facing and understitching, I then added my buttons to the front bodice panel.

I realized too late after sewing and attaching my bodice to the skirt that I totally forgot to add in some pink piping to the neckline! 😫 I contemplated putting it anyway, but it would require pulling apart the entire facing from the neckline so I could sandwich the piping in between. Uggh. No thanks. I’ll keep it the way it is and count my loss. I found my perfectly pink vintage buttons on Etsy.

After that came sewing the dreaded invisible zipper. Are you a lover or a hater? I just can’t get it right for some reason! Long story short, I ended up putting in a regular zip and everything is fine.

I love the overall look and style! I will admit though, that I had to fiddle with the bodice quite considerably. There was a lot of chest gaping, despite cutting the proper chest size. And I had some ballooning in the back as well. I took in the seams as much as I could to accommodate the front gaping, and it caused the waist and ribcage area to be a little snug. I don’t have time to keep working on it now, but I will tackle that fit in due time.

Don’t tell, but I may or may not have accidently sewn the pockets facing toward the back instead of towards the front of the skirt. Face palm!

By adding a single tack stitch to the top v of the sweetheart neckline, it dramatically made a difference in closing off the gaping neckline of my bodice (not to mention preventing the “girls” from making a surprise appearance every time I bent forward!)

I found these super cute shoes on Amazon. They come in so many colors and are really comfortable. They are pretty affordable too. I want more of them!

The word is still out on whether I want to make this dress again. I’m hoping I won’t encounter similar fit issues with my other Gertie patterns, because a lot of her designs are so cute! Because I mixed the patterns for this particular dress, I’m basing my Spool ratings on style and construction for the bodice portion on the b6412, and the skirt portion on the b6556:

• B6412: 🧵🧵🧵🧵
• B6556: 🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵

Fit for the b6412 bodice was fiddly, but I still really love the overall look. Sweetheart necklines are beautiful. Making the skirt for the b6556 was a pleasant task. I think I’ll eventually make the whole dress using the matching bodice pattern in the future.

I’m ready to celebrate a Happy Heart Day. I’m going to ask Hubby if he’ll be my Valentine. Think he’ll say yes?? ❤️

Happy Valentines Day!