New Look 6779 - Finished

First a picture so you can see me wearing it:

Now let the complaining begin! ROTFLOL! First to all my plus size sistahs...don't be fooled this ain't no plus size pattern! I would say that this is probably a RTW size 16!!!! So it took a lot to make it fit my bodacious body.

Second ~ never look at a skinny woman wearing a simple dress and think that you are going to fit your rotund body into the same pattern without a lot of effort!!!!

Okay with that off my chest, let me tell you how I spent my day...coughing, swearing and making it work!

Pattern: New Look 6779:

You know I never realized that there is no pattern description on the back of the pattern envelope...how chinzy is that?! I started with View D's neckline, used the pattern piece for the longer dress body and added my own sleeve version.

Fabric:

Cotton/lycra sateen blend from Nancy's Notions & a white sueded linen/cotton blend from Metro Textiles; leftover white cotton batiste also purchased from Metro Textiles.

Notions:

22" zipper

Construction Details:

Folks I made a new dress. When I say that the pattern was inspiration ~ believe me it was inspiration only!!

I cut the dress out using the largest size but I altered the back pattern piece first by adding 1.5 inches to the back skirt and back yoke pieces and not cutting them on the center fold. I wanted a center back seam to add a zipper to the dress. The front skirt piece was altered by using the pivot and slide method, adding an additional 2" at the waist and hips - which btw could have been more!

You saw the picture I took earlier of the yoke/bodice and the dress bottom. Well at that point the zipper was already in the dress, so I wasn't taking that puppy out! Instead to fix the issue with the yoke, I removed the 5/8" seam allowance, then sewed a new shoulder seam using a 7/8" seam and the yoke seamline hit me in a much better place.

Since I opted to self-line the yoke instead of using the facings that were provided, I did the same thing to these pattern pieces. Then I used the facing pattern piece for guidance marking the neckline to achieve the v in the yoke neckline. The lining was sewn in, understitched and clipped (carefully!), then I hand stitched it to the dress body.

After all of this, the back neckline still gaped! So I added two 3 inch darts to the back neckline so that it would lay flat.

Sleeves:

I added a short sleeve with a band instead of the cap sleeve or the 3/4" sleeve pictured on the envelope. Of course, the sleeve pattern flat measured 15-16 inches. So I had to alter the sleeve pattern by first cutting off the sleeve at the double line that you use to alter the pattern for length. Then I sliced the pattern 1/2" from the cap to the hem of the sleeve, adding 2.5 inches to the sleeve pattern.

To add the band I cut a 5" length of the dress fabric and sewed it to the sleeve hem. Folded 5/8" down on the unfinished edge and pressed. Then folded the band in half and pressed again. The sleeve was serge finished and then sewn together. Finally the sleeve band was machine stitched to finish it off!

Dress body - there is the minimumest seam allowance possible in this dress. And I sewed it twice to make sure that the thread doesn't give way at an inopportune time...I could have added a little more to the abdomen area of the dress...but since it is a special time of the month for me, I am believing that later on it will fit better! *LOL* I can always hope, right?! There is a 1/2" machine stitched hem.

You can see more pics and poses in my Flickr Album - Dresses 2008. I won't wear this dress this week - not because I don't like it but because it's "Black Week" at work!!! We have important meetings with outside visitors so it's ultra-professional, ultra-conservative this week. I have officially declared next week, "Color Week" and will wear the dress then.

In closing, this, this is why I use TNT patterns! *LOL* I probably could have gotten the same results, quicker if I had just altered and used my TNT dress pattern! Even though I ended up with a pretty and wearable dress, I'm not sure I would make this pattern again!