07 April 2013

I made the best dress ever

It's true. We can all stop trying now. Last weekend I made this. It fits perfectly and it's super cute. I'm not sure it can be beaten.

This pattern is New Look 6020. You see that 'Easy' label? It's not really easy. If I'd tried making this as a beginner, I would have given up very quickly. The pattern includes sewing curved edges to straight edges, facing (including on a v-neck), bias binding and a very long zip. I found it relatively easy, but that's only because I've been sewing for a couple of years now. I made view A, which has a curved front neck and a v-neck at the back.

The skirt fabric was chosen by Mr C. As it's a heavy drill, I didn't want to use it for the bodice like I did for my apple dress (which unfortunately has facing that sometimes rolls to the outside due to the weight). I used a black poplin instead, and this worked perfectly.





My favourite part of the dress is the v-neck at the back. I was worried that I wouldn't get the facing to sit quite right, but it's perfect. I wore the dress for a full day last weekend, and I didn't have to tuck the facing back inside once.


This dress fits so well that I've already cut out the fabric to make another one (this time it will be all in black cotton with a grey geometric pattern). It takes a while to make (a couple of hours to cut out the pieces, and 7 or 8 hours of sewing and pressing time), but it's well worth it to end up with something this good.

I have also recently made a simple black-and-white checked box-neck top (which is far better made than the first version I made a couple of years ago), but it's currently in the wash. It might be a while before I can upload photos of that one.