Multicoloured Swing Dress from New Look

Well, I've astonished myself by already finishing one of the items on my Make Nine/Use Nine 2022 list! After finishing up my skirt suit, I felt like something quick and easy, so grabbed New Look 6525 and the colourful knit I planned for it, and got busy.

But actually I wasn't that busy, because this is a quick and easy project. I chose View A, the simplest one, with no sleeve, collar or frilled bottom option, so it was super fast. I really just wanted a simple tent dress to wear with all my blazers and cardigans, and since this fabric has such a bright, strong print, I went with a no-fuss silhouette. Also, I wanted the slim fitted sleeves so I could easily layer this up.

It's basically a front, back and sleeve in this view; the only changes I made were length ones so that it wasn't a maxi on me. Also, I decided to add pockets since the silhouette could easily accommodate them. I cut the pocket bags from a lightweight cotton broadcloth to reduce the likelihood of them stretching out, and made sure to mark the waist line on the fabric before removing the pattern pieces so that I had a placement notch for the pocket tops. 

Then the hardest thing was just sewing it nicely. I first used a basic ballpoint needle, but this fabric didn't like it, and stitches were popping and skipping. So I tried a Stretch needle, and it seemed to work much better. I don't have a serger; I just zigzagged at 1.5 width and 3.0 length, as I often do. I did sew the actual shoulder seam with a straight stitch as I didn't want them to stretch much, and also used straight stitch on the pockets. 

I turned under and stitched the sleeve hems, which looked alright, and though I was thinking about a neckband to finish this (an addition to the pattern much recommended on PatternReview), in the end I just did the turn under and stitch on the neckline as well. This was because the sleeve hem had turned out well with very little puckering or visible stitching, thanks to the very busy print, so I thought the neckline would be okay. It actually worked very nicely. I left the bottom unhemmed as I couldn't face a wobbly hem in this very wide skirt. 

So this was a quick, easy and satisfying project. I love this print, and it goes with my new green blazer, with a yellow one in my closet, and with this cozy knit jacket/cardi I thrifted a while back (and plan to copy, it has some cool details). One down, eight to go ;)