New Look Dress for Mum!

...a New Look Dress for Mum!

Hello sewers! Hope you're all having a lovely day and week despite this crazy heat! I can honestly say I didn't want to make this week's project purely because I didn't want to sit and sweat in my room sewing! But I persevered just for you all so I can show you this week's final piece!

As you can see above, this week I've been making a New Look pattern dress, I'm using pattern 6614 for my mum who saw this gorgeous new fabric in the shop and immediately asked me to make her something from it! 

It's a polyester, crepe-like fabric which you can get from the online store here or visit the shop in person! It has a slight stretch to it, and I found using a ballpoint needle worked best.

Pattern 6614 has three options, and it was difficult to choose which one to make, but we went with option A with a slight change to the straps, using the piece for option C as mum likes a wider strap.

Having decided which design we were going for, I took my measurements, and needless to say, my mum wasn't one size fits all! We found her but was a smaller size to her hips and waist, so adjusted the pattern accordingly. New Look patterns come with simple instructions on how to adjust your pieces to fit perfectly and this made it super easy to ensure the dress fits well without having to alter it after completing. Just ensure you adjust all pieces correlating to the areas you alter size.

So having cut out my pattern pieces, I lay them out on the fabric and used my handy new pattern weights to help me in cutting out the fabric pieces! Didn't I say we might need them for the next project?!

Using the pattern weights along with my rotary cutter made the cutting out process way faster and easier, so I'll definitely do it again! 

The first few steps in the process were pretty self explanatory and really easy; add in the bust darts and sew the front and back pieces together. Next came adding a zip. The pattern calls for an invisible zip, which, I'll be honest, I completely forgot to pick up! So I used a standard instead, but I think it still came out great, and I can always top stitch the side seams along the zip closer to cover it if I want!

This was my first attempt at inserting a zip for a piece of clothing and I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was! Enclosing the bottom piece did baffle me to begin with, but after looking at it properly, I managed in the end, and as I said, I'm really happy with how it turned out.

At this point, I was a bit worried as the dress looked a little big, so I took a quick fitting break and pinned what I had so far to my mum to evaluate the fit...so far so good!

Happy it wasn't too big, I carried on, adding the straps as instructed, like I said before, using the thicker options, it was the same method for either type of strap so this made things easier. 

Next came the yoke, something that before making the Burda Shirt for my dad I viewed as a bit daunting, but now I find it easy! I just love how it creates clean lines and seams!

After the yoke, all that was left to do was the top stitching and hem! I'm really surprised with how quickly this whole dress came together, I'd say it took a total of around 5/6 hours, which sounds long, but when you're doing it, it goes by quickly! You could easily knock this out in a whole day if you needed to!

That's me finished! This dress is simple looking, but gives a really lovely silhouette and looks beautiful on! I love the fabric as it makes for a light summery feel, using another heavier fabric, such as a scuba or jersey could also make this a warmer dress for autumn. 

What do you think of the dress?! Would you make this, or something else from this fabric? Let us know in the comments and be sure to tag us in all your crafty creations! 

Have a great rest of your week, enjoy the weather and see you next time!