Sunday, September 2, 2012

New Look 6936 Knit dress with kimono sleeve




I am not used to taking photos inside! Still rainy and buggy outside, I miss the gazebo and sunshine and breezes. hmmm. OK, end of complaint list...

I love this dress! It is one of the patterns for knits that I bought before I brushed up on my knit sewing skills. And I bought the fabric at the same time  - good motivation!

And please note that I have to make things as hard as possible for myself. Another stripe! Matching stripes on a knit is slippery business...at least this is a big pattern.

 
I sewed view A in size 14, my usual size. The fit is great, all the way down to the hem. However - I'm 5'7" and only took up about a 3/4" hem, others might want to cut a little extra length...
 

 
The fabric is an Irat tye [?] dye cotton jersey knit from Girl Charlee, a great online shop for casual knits. It's midweight and is well saturated with the dyes. With minimal 1-way stretch (15%), it was very manageable on both the cutting and sewing table. Thank goodness!

If you are just getting into cotton jersey knits, a caution: order generously and launder first! shrinkage loss was about 16% on this one. To allow for pattern matching and shrinkage, I ordered an extra 3/4 yard and used it all.
 
 
 


Just one sewing change on this one :-)  The directions are to make a 5/8" narrow hem in the front and back neckline edges. Aaaghh. Clearly the folks who write those directions have never tried to do a narrow hem in the curve of a back neckline.
 
 I drafted a 3" wide back neckline facing and used a narrow hem on the front neckline edges only.
 
 
A simple change that makes a big difference in the finish of the dress.
 
 
 
Couple more pics - pretty sleeves...
 

 
Great little number! Ciao! Coco 

21 comments:

  1. Really cute dress, great idea on the neckline construction!

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    1. Andrea, thank you! the neckline facing is a path of least resistance :-)

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  2. Oh yes, that is much better- another hit, Ma'am!

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  3. Your dress has more class than the cover drawings!

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    1. Thanks, Heather! It feels good, too - I'm already looking for more fabric, want another :-)

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  5. You turned a relatively simple dress into something great.

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    1. Hi Ruth! I think you hit on the best part, the simple lines, kind of like your Vogue dress (which I love :-) Thank you!

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  6. Love your dress - great fabric and a good match to the dress.

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    1. Thanks so much! Glad I scooped up the fabric when I did, even if it did mean doing stripe matching!

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  7. Beautiful dress on you - it should definitely take your mind off of the weather! You look great :)

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    1. Thanks so much! yes, it helps a lot! I just went out into morning sunshine and took pictures of snail art on the patio. Not quite ready to take my coffee out, but it is nice in the lanai. Congrats on your incredible year of beautiful garments!

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  8. Valerie, hi and thank you! Kind of snakey, fun :-)

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  9. Very pretty. You did a god job of marrying fabric and pattern. Nice work!

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    1. Gwen, thank you so much. It just came together :-)

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  10. Awesome dress! Love the print you chose.

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    1. Thanks, Mushy! So comfortable - kinda of sexy too! Nothing like a well-rounded portfolio!

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I love it that you came by...and thank you for your comments! Coco