Sunday, June 10, 2012

NewLook 6615 revisited - Blue charmeuse butterfly dress

This is my second time using this pattern, the first was made 4 years ago right when I started my blog. I still like that first dress for the most part, especially all the hand sewn embroidery around the neck and ribcage. What I don't like about it anymore are the puff sleeves and back tie. It gets worn about once a year.


For this dress, I was wanting something a bit more modern. This polyester charmeuse bought from JoAnn's was a really large print, and I went looking through my stash for a pattern that would show off some of those huge butterflies. Plus, as I'd already made this, there was no muslining needed.


I made the sleeveless version with the topstitching all along the neckline and ribcage. This is a straight size 12, but would have been a better fit in the bust in a size 10.


Instead of ties in the back, I made a fabric casing on the inside and put in 3 rows of 3/8" elastic. I also tried to match the back seam so that the butterflies on the back would not be cut up. I made a slight miscalculation and there's a tiny bit of fabric twinning that I'm pretty sure nobody will notice.


Cutting this out was the hardest part. I wanted to balance the colors on the top, so I cut one side with lighter colors and the other side darker. Then I had to balance the colors of all those bands. I didn't want any twinning or any of the butterfly's spots centered over a bust apex. Whew!


I always enjoy topstitching and used brown heavy duty Coats & Clark polyester thread. My bobbin thread was not heavy duty.


Here you can see the slight fabric twinning. Argh! I'm really not sure how that happened. Strangely this does not bother me that much. Perhaps I'm relaxing my perfectionism.


The unpictured insides were sewn using french seams and the armholes finished off with bias tape. I really wanted this to be an easy summer dress to throw on and launder so I left off any thoughts of lining it. However, this fabric clings to my skin forcing me to wear a slip. And a slip is not something I like to throw on during the hot summer. Now this dress is more of a date night/church dress.

Here's a picture of baby Rachel giggling out the door at us during our photo session. I do have a dress I made her last month that I still need to take some pictures of. Hopefully I can get to that this week. 


27 comments:

  1. Man - that pattern looked so dowdy to me, but your version is so beautiful. The topstitching you do is always superb and the decision to remove the ties and add elastic casing, a perfect choice.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Amanda, dang this is sophisticated, and yet cute at the same time. Please don't worry about the twinning, so not noticeable nor an issue. Just a very lovely summer dress. Enjoy!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Amanda this dress is stunning. I love the whole thing. I especially love the elastic at the back it appears to match in perfectly with your top stitching.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Simply adorable, both the baby and the dress!:)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Stunning dress! Great for date night! I love your fabric and all the topstitching. Nice job.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Gorgeous use of that fabric! All that "balancing" of colours has paid off...the efforts that need to be made for a project to look effortless!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love the way you made an unpromising pattern look so good! The pattern cover looks bland and dated, but your version looks fantastic! You have a good eye.
    Baby Rachel looks so bright and happy, thanks for sharing the pic.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Cute fabric. Rachel brought a smile to my face too!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Amanda, that is a great dress! I wish I had your eye for making sylish things! That "twinning" of fabric in the back.....if you hadn't pointed it out, I wouldn't have noticed. Rachel is precious and you are so lucky to be able to make her beautiful things as well. She will be the best dressed little girl for ever.

    ReplyDelete
  10. That's a pretty dress. Looks terrific. I can't believe how much your baby has grown!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I think this is a perfect marriage of fabric and pattern. It loooks both very current and timeless. I hope you love this one for a decade. :-) The topstitching is really nice, too.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I LOVE that print!!! And you picked a great way to showcase. The neckline and under-bust detail is great. This dress is simply gorgeous. Love those butterflies!!!

    ReplyDelete
  13. looks great and so much better than the pattern envelope!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Have made this pattern a couple of times for my {busty) daughter. I like that it gives the feel of many of the dolman-sleeved dresses on the market that make her look saggy and frumpy, without making her look saggy and frumpy; and that the skirt is fairly slender, so that it doesn't look like the dresses she wore in kindergarten. Love the giant butterflies! Sad for you, that you have to wear a slip in Texas in the summertime.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Gorgeous fabric and your dress is so much better than the pattern envelope. Rachel's face is precious.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Beautiful dress - the fabric is just stunning and the topstitching does give it that modern look you were going for. I think the print is abstract enough that no one is going to think anything of the matching on the back, it just looks like the fabric is like that.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I don't think that you have to worry about giving up your perfectionism because it looks perfect to me! I love the fabric and the changes that you made to update the pattern.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Very pretty dress and adorable daughter. Question- what is twinning?

    ReplyDelete
  19. Nikki,
    Twinning is when you have the exact same place on a big print right next to itself. This often happens when you cut the front of something on a fold and the two backs next to it on the doubled fabric. It's a little hard to explain. On the front of this dress, for instance, I didn't want any part of that big butterfly mirrored on the midriff band or the bodice fronts. Great question!

    ReplyDelete
  20. This is a stunning dress, because it fits you well, the work you've done is spot on the the print is placed perfectly. Love it.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Print twinning is my nemesis, ugh! I manage to do it all.the.time. That said, I actually can't find it on your dress so it can't be as bad as you think!

    This is gorgeous, love all that topstitching.

    ReplyDelete
  22. You are so brave to have used a huge print. It would have scared me off. But the pattern you picked was perfect for it, and the dress looks lovely on you

    ReplyDelete
  23. This dress is beautiful! Beautifully made and a perfect fabric choice. Love your topstitching too!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Great dress, it looks so good on you, the color, the print, it's perfect! Much better version then what's on the pattern enveloppe!

    ReplyDelete
  25. The fabric is amazing! Nicely done, and it's of course, a perfect fit and looks SO nice on you!

    ReplyDelete