McCalls 6713 Review: DVF inspired dress for American Hustle themed Christmas party

Finally getting around to blog about one of my favorite makes of the year 2014. The DVF inspired metallic gold wrap dress.
2014 was the year of the Diane von Furstenberg and the 40th anniversary of her iconic wrap dress. I love wrap dresses. There's something so feminine about them. I own a few RTW wrap dresses and have made a few myself but I'm still on a quest for the perfect wrap dress. I have given up on bidding on the coveted Vogue 1549 on eBay so instead I try to combine different wrap dress patterns in order to achieve the right fit.
In December, hubby announced that his Christmas party's theme was American Hustle. Immediately I thought of a wrap dress since Amy Adams wore them in the movie. But as usual, the procrastinator in me waited until the last minute to get sewing. I finished the dress a few hours before heading out to the party.
My inspiration was the DVF Nina Metallic wrap dress which I became obsessed with when I saw it on her website. The dress cost $1398!!! Yikes! I think I can make this for less!

I didn't have to buy any new fabric since I had some metallic knits in my stash. I bought those during the PR weekend San Francisco in 2012. I wish I had bought more of those because I didn't have enough fabric to make a real wrap dress and make the dress long enough.
After going through all my wrap dress patterns, I settled on the McCalls 6713 which was the closest to the inspiration dress with the gathered shoulders and bodice.

 I chose the view C and cut a size 10. I modified the front wrap curve by raising the curve of the neckline. It's less curvy that way but reduces the risk of gaping. Once the bodice was cut, I removed the built-in cap sleeves using my sleeve curve ruler. I liked the fact that the bodice is lined and the instructions are well written on how to line it. The construction went rather quickly including lining the dress.

Interestingly, I noticed that the lining on the DVF dress was white. I thought it was awkward at first but after trying a few different color lining fabrics underneath the gold, I realized the white did a better job at bringing out the gold color. Luckily, the white knit lining fabric was in my stash as well.

I used stay tape to stabilize the neckline and the shoulders. That in addition to raising the neckline curve resulted in a crossover that was snug with no gaping.

Because I was short on the metallic fabric, I couldn't make a real wrap which was fine because I didn't have to worry about any flashing. I couldn't cut a full waistband either so I took the waistband from an old metallic gold top. I don't wear it anymore but I kept it just in case. It's a slightly lighter gold but hardly noticeable and it worked perfectly.

Anyway, the American Hustle party was at the Levi's Stadium. It was a lot of fun. I even had compliments on my dress.

Great food, great music!

I wish the dress could have been longer. I am 5'7" with long legs and a short torso so with high heels, the dress is a tad short. I am contemplating shortening the dress for good in order to wear it more often or finding the same gold mesh knit and redoing the skirt part. We shall see.