New Look 6301 (In Triplicate)

Epic. Sewing. Session.

As mentioned before, my sister has found a new job after dealing with unemployment for quite awhile. While we are not close and don't talk often, I got the bug to make her a new dress for her new job. And then I had this bonus yardage of cobalt ponte and decided I'd make 2! A classic black version and a fun, sleeveless blue version.

I told her to be watching her mail and sent her the USPS tracking number. Just to show how little we talk, I had no idea she's moving at the end of the month! Good thing I got them done and in the mail first thing Monday! They showed up today :)

I went with size 12, totally guessing, putting her square in between my daughter's measurements and my own. I am smart!

This pattern is a surplice with an IMO unnecessary pleat on the right (under) bodice, two side pleats on the left bodice, pleats in the front skirt and darts in the back skirt. It has a center back seam on the back bodice, a narrow neck binding and tie belt.

Does it sound like there's too much going on? I kind of think there is. I'll start by saying the pattern is okay but unless she wants some other variation, I probably won't sew this one again.

It's one of those where it's like eh...it's not bad but meh... Know what I mean??!

**Knowing New Look, I took the liberty to remove 3/8" from the back neckline grading to nothing at the waist. I took a 3/8" tuck across the fronts.

**For myself I traced a size 14 neckline/armholes, grading out to a 16.

**I fully intended to do a swayback adjustment. I forgot!!! And dang it, it shows.

**When I first tried it on I wasn't happy with the front pleats but then when I actually wore it I realized the entire bodice is just too long. When I hiked it up a bit (like an entire inch!), the pleats fell just fine. Ah!

**Also, the bindings are too long. It is a match to the length of the front pieces. I attached the blue one as is and knew it would stand away from the body a bit.

**On the black one (a rayon/poly/lycra ponte), I had 6" of binding left over after applying light tension throughout serging.

**On the green/black one (a poly/lycra ponte), I had less leftover, around 3".

**Same with the armhole bindings on the sleeveless versions. Blue one was as-is and just matched the opening. Green/black was shortened and is still too long. It doesn't pull it in to the body.

**As per usual with Big4 patterns and ties, they are always wrong. Either too long to just tie in front but too short to actually wrap around successfully.

The blue version was first and ties were sewn as is.
On the black version I used the full size 20 length; they can wrap around the body easily.
On the green version I used the full size 20 length AND cut them with stretch. So this is my favorite. They wrap around nicely and sit snugly against the body.

Blah blah blah words...here are the pictures!!! :)

As said above, she is in the middle of a move so she wasn't photo-ready :) Hence the headless shot!

This photo was taken before the black one was hemmed. 

I traced the pattern and cut the blue one Saturday morning. By around mid afternoon the black one was to this stage. My husband walked past and said, "Wait...that's ANOTHER dress?! WOW! You made that really fast!". Yeah, the second one went super quick! 

I pressed and pinned the hems and stitched them Monday morning. Then I pressed it and wrapped them for the mail! Sent them out Monday morning and she received them today. 

People complain but I *love* the USPS! 

Why did the hems wait? Because of MINE! LOL! I traced my pattern Sunday afternoon and cut it out and serged it up. And then realized that because mine was sleeveless, the bands went in super quick with the serger and hemming was fast. I still need to twin-needle stitch the neck binding on mine. It flipped out a couple times while wearing it today.

Styled with my M6884 cardigan, tights and black boots.  Which, I read on PR today that "dresses with tights and boots look bad". Ohhhh. Interesting.

Here you can see all that excess fabric length in back. And how bulky that side seam area is. 

There's got to be a way to make that work out better?? Maybe if the seam is sewn and serged separately?? Or would that create more bulk?

At any rate, the pattern worked just fine and if she really wanted another I'd consider it. 

But for me? I think I'll stick to M6884 (here and here) and S2369 (here) for my mock wraps, thankyouverymuch.

Rounding Out October and RTW Snooping...

(this post has a lot of words!)

My failed Edith had a bit of an effect on my mojo. I couldn't work up the energy to start anything but that's okay because I had some minor mending to do and need to FINISH my NL6261 dress.

This is the type of thing perfect for sewing in 15-30 minute increments! I'll detail my timeline in the review post.

I am ecstatic over the fit through the back. No swayback wrinling. Yay! 

Post fish and chips belly non-withstanding :)

I managed to get just a touch of the white stripe at the side seam and it tricks the eye. dang it. The dress feels amazing on but I was thinking it was snug through the hips...but it is NOT the hips...it's my thigh. You can kind of see where my quads are just pulling the fabric forward a bit. I've already serged the side seams though so at most I can get about 1/2" and not sure all the unpicking is worth it. 

I'll try it on a few more times before hemming it, sit in it, etc to see how it feels. 

*******

Next up will be a blitz of NL6301. It has favorable reviews so far and I love all 4 views. 

I'll be using this green diamond print ponte I got ages ago from Fabric Mart for the sleeveless version. I envisioned it with my new thrifted blazer.

I will also be making views C (black) and D (cobalt) for my sister. 

Now, my sister and I aren't close. People seem to interpret that as 'we don't get along', but that isn't really true...we just aren't close. We never have been, not even as little girls. It's like extreme 

personality differences. So much so that it is almost comical! Shared parents, only 5 years apart yet light years away in who we are. But! she is starting a new job after a long period of unemployment and my thought process was:

I should make her an outfit! 

But I like surprises so it should be a surprise. 

Wait, sewing for someone else as a surprise is hard. 

Okay, then it has to be a knit. 

Wait, it has to be a dress. 

Okay maybe a knit top and skirt? 

But she wouldn't like an elastic waist skirt. 

Can I brave it and make a woven skirt? Heck no. 

Ok knit dress it is. 

NL tends to have a broad neckline/shoulder so I'm going to wing it and take a wedge out of the front to ensure it won't gape and narrow the shoulders a bit.

On sizing? Well...I don't have her measurements but ponte! :) I would take a 16 in this pattern and DD would take an 8 if she wore this kind of thing so I'm going to guess that my sister would need a 12. That seems about right.

So I plan to have an epic wrap-dress sewing weekend. I want to have hers in the mail by Tuesday at the absolute latest and prefer Monday.

*******

After that it'll be DD and mine's TNT M6964 pattern. 

I tested the Appleton dress for Cashmerette (I liked it and will remake it...just hated the fabric used for my muslin and the fit wasn't quite right. So hope to find something appropriate for it soon!)...Jenny sent over a paper copy of the final pattern and the bird fabric used in her model's version here:

Link to Photo

It's very nice jersey but I am just not going to wear a dress from fabric with birds on it (or owls or cats or pineapples or anything like that). No offense to anyone!!! It just isn't my thing. 

However! I will make a casual item from bird fabric! :) So DD and I will be twinning it in matching tees--she LOVED the fabric! I think mine will be long sleeved because the black/white will look cute with my vests.

*******

I have become obsessed with gingham. I need(!) a navy or black gingham top. I really liked this one at Target. It was $22.99 in store and on clearance for $6.88 online, but only in a XS! Booo!

I'll have to make my own. I might splurge on this purchase (let's just discuss the fact that it's been 10 weeks since I've purchased fabric, not counting lining for my Minoru!). So it won't necessarily be cheaper but it'll fit great and last awhile.

Bored on lunch yesterday, I went to the mall. I have never shopped Lands End and Sears had a bunch of stuff on clearance.

I really liked these white jeans! (I have one leg cuffed as they were pretty long). The waist was too big (of course), so I put them back. Blergh on the alterations. But I really liked them and should have snagged them for $13.99! whine!!

Then I went to the GAP which used to be one of my favorite retailers. They were having 50% off fall clearance and I saw lots of cute things. 

I really loved the color of these pants and was dubious about them fitting when I held them up. Well, they are basically jeggings. So, no thank you.

The peplum top was $10 final price and I was *this* close to buying it. Until I realized that in the 2 minutes I had it on, I tugged it down like 3 times. The waist seam hit at an odd place. I made myself put it back. If it is annoying to wear, I will rarely wear it and then the $10 isn't a bargain!

Lastly was this really cute sweater. It had split side seams finished with huge snaps. So cute. But you can see it's a bit snug and riding up in front. There was a crazy difference between the Medium and Large. The L looked oversized and sloppy but the M was tight. So weird.

So even though those  4 things would have cost under $60, I'm glad I didn't buy them because my car shut off today and then smoke was coming from under the hood.

Adult-ing is totally for the birds.