Finished Project: Polka Dotted New look 6000

It's finally here! Actually, this dress has been finished and hanging out on the dress form for a week or two, now. I've been meaning to take photos of it, but couldn't quite manage any of me wearing it just yet - I'll try to post some of those soon! Hopefully it will be getting warmer around here in the near future so I can take some photos outside...

Anyway, this is my pretty, polka dotted New Look 6000 for the Frock Fest held by Winnie over at Scruffy Badger Time. I'd had the pattern in my stash for a long time, and paired it up with another long-time stash-dweller, some  blue stretch "sateen" cotton with white spots. I'd bought it online with the vague intention of using the fabric for a party dress, but when it arrived in the mail, it was much lighter weight and not as sateen-y as I'd hoped. For my New Look 6000, I underlined the light weight fabric with muslin, similar to my technique used on my Holiday dress, to give the fabric some more heft/weight. Though, this time, I did not include a skirt (or any) lining.

 

Once I'd sewn everything up, added on the sleeves with little pleats at the top rather than easing & setting in the sleeve as prescribed (my least favorite sewing task), you may recall that I couldn't quite decide what to do with the sleeve cuffs. The pattern has cute little pointed cuffs, but they just didn't seem right to me for my version.

I ended up trying to re-create a "camp shirt" style sleeve (there's probably another, more proper name for this?) that a couple of shirts in my closet have, where the sleeve is long and rolls up to a shorter length, with a button tab to keep it in place. It's definitely a more casual look, but that's what I was going for.

This dress was fun to sew - it reminded how much simpler a one-piece shift dress, with no waist seam, is to sew. And it made inserting the zipper (which I botched a little bit, as usual) easier, too. The only thing is, when I try it on, I feel like this dress demands to be worn with a belt, at least on me, and the only one in my closet that works with it is this yellow bow belt. I love the belt, I was just hoping I'd have more options.

zooooomed out back shot - don't look to closely at my zipper, or the back neckline (it's missing a hook & eye)

So what do you think -- Did I make the right choice with the sleeves? Would you have used the pointy cuffs instead?  Have any of you sewn this pattern before?


Thanks for bearing with me through the mediocre photos - they were taken on my iPad and not edited, as my computer has finally croaked. I've not quite mastered blog posting via iPad - yet. :)