I wanted to sew a Christmas dress for quite a few years, but always skipped it in favour of other projects. This year I finally accomplished it with one of my favourite patterns (a hacked version, of course) and a lovely cotton lawn tartan. 

Tartan feels like a perfect festive print that's also very versatile. You can wear it as a very appropriate Christmas day dress, but it's also great for any other day of the year. 

It's McCalls 6696. It's a lovely pattern, but it can require some adjustments. It was the 3rd time I used it, so I knew what the fit issues were. I went a size up in the bodice and size down in the skirt, but that's not enough.

The issues I had were: 

- too tight around the bust; 

- too narrow in the armholes; 

- too loose around the waist. 

That's how I adjusted the pattern to address these problems: 

I also decreased the width of the back piece and swapped the gathers for folds. 

That was purely for appearance, not the fit, just like all of the next adjustments: 

1) swapped the shirt collar with a stand for a Peter Pan collar with a ruffle; 

2) Changed the sleeves to puff ones; 

3) adjusted the shape of the waist band to match the checks. 

This dress was easy to sew. The most time consuming step was to match all of the checks. 

I'm really happy with the result and I'm sure it's not my last McCall's 6696 with full sleeves and Peter Pan collar! 

I used: 

Tartan cotton fabric (similar fabric) 

Vilene Vlieseline G700 Medium Woven Interfacing in White

Minerva Core Range Cotton Voile Fabric