Thursday 9 April 2015

Completed: New Look 6020

Hola!
After declaring that I had not much time for sewing, my production seemed to take an upturn! This dress came together relatively quickly once I had a spare few hours to actually sew it! I even managed to get my overlocker overlocking properly again - somehow the left needle thread had worked its way out of the tension disks :-s. oh well sorted it now is :-)


So with both of my machines fully working, making up this dress from scratch was actually a fairly painless experience :-D. Fairly. I want to make a dress for my cousins wedding at the end of June and have decided to use this pattern and make the necessary changes over a number of wearable muslins before making up the final version in some lovely red crepe I bought in Edinburgh fabrics. I'll share each iteration as I learn to get a perfect fit on this one.

The fabric was a 45" wide cotton from Mandors. I realised at the last minute that I didn't actually have any fabric that was appropriate for a first run of the dress so spent ages lurking all the new bolts which have recently appeared. I felt the flowers on this print stood out more than a regular floral.


This pattern called for facings and as I really dislike facings I decided that I would try and fully line this dress - skirt and all.

Partial fail on the white lining here...
For this I just made up two identical dresses. I had to think a bit about the construction order a little but it went together OK. I attached both dresses at the zip and then pressed the other armhole and neckline under by 5/8" and top stitched. Not the neatest finishing ever but the print hides it a bit. Next time round I am going to finish the armholes with a bias binding facing - much less lazy and a far better finish. I might actually just finish this version with a binding. Maybe. I altered the other half's jeans the other night and it wasn't actually all that bad...

I ended up with a fair amount of gape all around the neckline - I think this is something to do with both my requirement for a narrow shoulder adjustment and the fact it may have stretched while under construction as well as I get the inkling that I cut the size too big. (oh well that's why I didn't cut straight into my crepe....) So in the back I added two darts - which turned out a little too narrow and   took out 3/4" length out of the shoulders; on the front I am debating some front darts. I have already taken a wedge out the back paper pattern piece for my next run. Finally I removed quarter of an inch from the back length with another quarter inch marked onto the pattern pieces for next time.
I had no idea how to expression an extreme close up...

One thing that I liked about the dress is it is more like a tea dress than other styles I have tried. This dress sits under my knee and it took a while but I think i'm used to it! I'm kind of feeling the length right now however will no doubt loose some of it for version 2. Or lengthen it the jury is out on full length, I do love a maxi however the wedding is in the South of England....

I  also wore this as my birthday dress the other week (imperfections and all and as a result I'm almost set on trying the size down) - so that is item #2 off my 2015 plan scored off! yay!

Hope your all sewing up a storm :-)

Jen xx

11 comments:

  1. Beautiful girl, beautiful dress !
    Sew pretty.
    Well done !
    Have a nice day
    Käthe

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  2. Oohh - -I like including the length. When I first lined a sleeveless dress, I scratched my head -- then went to YouTube for a video that walked me through!

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    1. Yeh the video posted below seems to be quite useful - I never even considered using youtube!

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  3. Video for armholes in lined garment 2 you tube▶ 8:03
    www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OwC6L7IMsQ
    Jul 3, 2009 - Uploaded by CCPatterns
    In this instructional video, Lezette of the Children's Corner teaches the viewer how to sew a ...

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  4. Jenifer , your dress is just darling! I posted a you tube video that helps me a lot when I'm lining a sleeveless bodice. I hope it helps you out its so much more professional and easier then bias binding. Hope I'm not being too forward in sending it to you.

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    1. Thanks! it was interesting to watch. The thing that was/is confusing about the dress is that it has a side zipper - this means that it is only one arm hole and the neckline which require finishing and every way I tried i ended up twisting something :-S. I'll give this method a try in my next version of this dress thanks for sharing :-)

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  5. This fabric is soooooo pretty!!! I always stabilize my necklines right after cutting with a line of machine stitching inside the seam allowance like 1/8 from the seamline to be - to avoid stretching. Your close up expression is the best - so cute!

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  6. Thanks :-) yeah I usually stabilise too however for some reason I didn't this time...I'll put it down to laziness!! I have another cut out and removed about a half inch each side..hopefully the two methods combined will produce the right results!

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  7. Very Pretty and a lovely shape- it really does flatter you- hmm cant make up my mind on adding length... depends on the weight of your crepe may-be? - if it a lovely fabric think about how much wear you get from both that may sway it :) well done nice sew xx

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    1. Thanks :-) it's amazing how much wear this dress has had in it's short lifetime already!! To be honest the amount of wear the final dress will get isn't really an issue - like my school ball dress it will prob be tried on annually just to check it still fits if I manage to achieve the WOW factor that i'm after! (I feel I may be over revealing my hoarder traits....)xx

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