Hi friends! Today’s blog post features Mood Fabrics Exclusive Floral Dreams Cotton Sateen and McCall’s M7253. The cotton sateen fabric was a sponsored piece by Mood Fabrics, and you can purchase this fabric here.
Mood’s Exclusive Floral Dreams Cotton Sateen
So far, I’ve had the opportunity to work with three beautiful fabrics from Mood by way of sponsorship, and this particular fabric is my favorite! The color scheme, drape, and weight of this fabric is amazing! First, let’s talk about the fiber content.
This medium weight fabric is 97% cotton and 3% elastane with a slightly stiff drape and soft hand. This beautiful floral print is rich in texture and color consisting of purple, tan, white, and orange hues on a navy blue background. It was a pleasure to work with this fabric, and I have no doubts that I will get a lot of wear out of this skirt.
The McCall’s M7253 was a great pattern to use for this project. This is an older out-of-print pattern with a modern day look. Although this pattern it is not available in craft stores, a copy can be purchased from eBay or Amazon.
McCall’s M7253 Pleated Skirt
This pattern comes with six pleated skirt variations, most of which are length variations, and it calls for fabrics such as broadcloth, cotton blends, poplin, and sateen. There are a combination of sizes that are available including sizes 6-14 and 14-22.
I chose to make view D (the skirt that the model is wearing), and I made a few alterations. First, I lengthened the skirt by two inches. I added the length because the original pattern was a bit too short. It did not fall an inch above the knee as shown on the pattern’s cover.
Secondly, I stitched the pleats in place. The directions do not instruct you to do this. This was a style choice.
This is probably the first pleated skirt pattern I’ve made that comes with complete, clear, and concise directions. Although I’ve made quite a few pleated skirts and have no need for instructions, I still appreciate having them. This is definitely an easy pattern for sewists of all skill levels, which takes roughly 2 hours to make.
Although it wasn’t necessary, I did a mockup before I made this skirt. Mainly, I wanted to see which size would be most appropriate to use with a cotton stretch sateen fabric. Although the pattern calls for sateen fabrics, making a waistband from a cotton stretch sateen can be very tricky. I didn’t want any surprises. I selected a size 16, which is approximately 31” in waist.
Although you can totally use a stretch cotton sateen with this pattern, I strongly recommend non-stretch fabrics for beginners. I did not have any issues sewing this pattern with the cotton sateen; however, I went into the project totally aware of the issues I could potentially face with sewing with a cotton stretch fabric. I knew before hand that I would need to select a size that is slightly smaller than my waist measurement to accommodate for the stretch of the fabric. That’s why I made a mockup garment first. In addition, the waistband is cut on the bias. So, I had to account for that as well.
I’m quite pleased with how this skirt turned out and I’m excited to add this skirt as a staple to my wardrobe! As you can see, I made a matching blouse to pair with this skirt. I will give a full review on my YouTube channel about the blouse. So stay tuned for that post. Thank you for stopping by and reading my blog post. I hope to hear from you soon my friends!
Stay creative!
-Tea
Crumpets, Tea & Sewing 
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