Monday, July 21, 2008

New Look 6774

Pattern Description: Misses' dress with bodice and skirt variations.

Pattern Sizing: Sizes 10-22. I did a quick muslin of the bodice in a 12 and it seemed a bit snug, so I cut the 14, and it seemed a bit loose. I think I ended up back to the 12 in the end.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes.

Were the instructions easy to follow? More or less. I've been sewing a lot of BWOF and Patrones lately, so I'm used to making up my own instructions. I checked these and they seemed fine though I wasn't big on their order of construction, and I would have liked it better had the straps been inserted between the lining and the outside, rather than being sewn after. I would have liked it even better if I had thought of that before I'd sewn the dress!

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I love all the variations included in the pattern - you definitely get a lot of bang for your buck with this one.

Fabric Used: Cotton batiste picked up on my Paris vacation. This is the fourth piece of vacation fabric I've used, and it was only purchased in May. I loved this fabric the moment I saw it, and the fact that it was only 10 euros for 3 meters made me like it even more. It's hard to find a decent border print, and since this had the border on both sides I was able to use it for the hem and the waistband. I was trying to find a way to cut the bodice pieces to really take advantage of the big orange paisleys without making it look like I had big orange paisleys centered on each boob, but I couldn't manage it. I really thought with a pattern that big I would have been able to engineer it so that it looked like a third fabric, but it didn't work and I had sense to let go of the idea.

Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made: Fiddling incessantly with the bodice until I liked the fit. I still had to back the bodice down where the right side crossed over the left - no matter how much I fiddled, it still didn't want to lie completely flat (of course, I don't lie completely flat, so that may be part of the reason).

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? This isn't as big a recommendation as I would have hoped, but I am going to try it again. I like the straight across bodice and the pockets for another summer cotton that's been languishing in stash.

Conclusion: This one is definitely worth a try, just be prepared for a little more tweaking than you'd like to do. On the whole, though, it's a nice result, and a cute, comfortable dress.

6 comments:

Adrienne said...

I love that fabric! Very pretty.

Sherril said...

It's not fair! I want to sew something without a muslin and just make it work. And you really made that dress work. It looks great.

Eileen said...

I love that dress and the way you positioned the print. I am new to sewing (again!) and would love to try doing a border print. Gorgeous!

Unknown said...

I love your choice of fabric for this dress. Very pretty!

Kat said...

What a super cute summer dress!

Tany said...

Beautiful dress and fabric! Well done!