New Look 6210

A little wrinkly, but I wore it out at least twice before taking this photo :)

I just love easy-to-wear summer dresses, like this one from New Look. It's a very current release, but I'm sure there are plenty of similar versions out there in the pattern world :) I purchased this one

mainly because I wanted a sleeveless v-neck dress. I finished it over a week ago and I've already gotten a lot of wear out of it. :)

There's something irresistible about tissue paper and fabric... :)

I chose a blue cotton-lycra knit for this dress. The fabric I picked up in the bargain section of my local Fabricville for less than $2.99/meter. I later purchased about a meter remnant of the same fabric for 75 cents! :)

For all my love of sewing with knits, cotton/lycra knit has given me the most trouble in the past. I feel like I finally figured out how to sew it properly!! Yay! :) In past attempts with CL knit, the seams would end up stretched out and wonky, screaming of "homemade" (and not the good kind of "homemade"). Obviously, if you have a serger, that would be ideal. If you don't, here's how to do it with just a regular sewing machine :)

What I did, was use straight basting stitches and then trim close to the stitching.

....Next I changed the presser foot to use the overlock stitch. Result: NO wonky stretched stitches!!

For all those thinking, "a serger would be a lot easier", yes, I agree! But for those who either don't own a serger, or don't know how to use one yet, this should suffice :) I think it looks pretty good :)

My biggest beef with this pattern is that it starts at a size 10. It would be nice if it started at a 6 or 8, then I may have been able to sew it straight from the envelope without having to make any adjustments. I had to take in the back (as shown in this photo to the right).

I also had to sew darts at the bust area for a better fit. I didn't take any photos though I wish I would have. Maybe a shoulder slope adjustment would've helped too (the shoulder/armhole area kind of stuck out a little.

The instructions tell you to sew two rows of stitching along certain seams. I used a double-needle instead. I think it makes for a much more RTW look, and saves time (I'm all for efficiency!) :)

I'm really pleased with how the hem turned out. I deviated from the instructions and tried to copy a RTW hem.

Here I used a certain stretch stitch on my machine, sewing where I wanted the top stitching to be (once the area was pressed, and then sewn on the right side. Hopefully the photos help more so than my attempts at trying to explain :)

I used two slightly different shades of blue for the hem, and where I used a double-needle, but unless you look closely, you can't really notice :)

Once I top stitched, I trimmed the excess fabric where I pressed up the hem.











I could stand to make a few more casual summer dresses like this. I will get a LOT of wear out of this dress! :)