McCall’s 7920

Bouncing into the new year slightly late with my first blog post of 2026! I made a fun tea dress perfect for warmer days that I’m sure are around the corner… This is McCall’s 7920, made once before in black cherry print crepe. But now made in a fun cotton viscose mix from Fabric Godmother.

Here’s a reminder: it’s a great dress that people often overlook because it says “petite” on the front of the envelope. IT IS NOT JUST FOR PETITE PEOPLE… sorry for shouting. This is a pattern with quick adjustment lines to reduce height in the best places for petite people. As I’m 5ft 4 with a short torso, I used these lines. You don’t have to though!

Just like before I made the midi length view B with flared skirt but this time around I shortened the sleeves a smidge. My fun addition here is the red pom pom trim around the neckline and down the front. Yes, you might have remembered I swore to NEVER use this style of trim again on Instagram but I have several spools of it and clearly the trauma of adding it to my Christmas celebration dress had passed. This was positioned on the edge of the seam line and handstitched in place for easy future removal if it doesn’t survive the washing machine.

Isn’t this fabric print so fun? Everything lucky in one place, shooting stars, horseshoes, 4 leaf clovers, waving cats and more. This design is called Lady Luck Viscose Lawn by Fabric Godmother. Viscose lawn is super soft and has a wonderful drape but still firm enough to cut out and sew without it slinking around in an unwieldy manner.

I’m still not a fan of the back of this dress as I think it gives the illusion of a very broad back but a small price to pay for the lovely front with that v neckline and dart shaping. One day I’ll alter the skirt to be more flared as I think that would balance out the silhouette a little more.

I also have dreams of altering the armholes for classic set-in-sleeves rather than the “grown on” style here. Grown on essentially means the pattern piece extends from the body, you see this will sleeves and collars where they might traditionally be separate pattern pieces, but instead extend out of the bodice for a continuous look.