Sewing Machines and Sew Forth: Another Knit Dress B6388

Sunday, March 17, 2019

Another Knit Dress B6388

Wearing my dress at work

This dress has been finished for a couple months now, but I recently got around to taking pictures of it out in the real world.

Fabric with possibilities

The fabric came from City Sewing Room when I was there last August. It was part of a collection of fabric from the 70's that had been donated. Originally it was packaged with a pattern, thread, and the zipper that would have been needed to complete a project. The original pattern ended up being for a size much smaller than what I needed, so I bought the fabric and looked through my collection for something that would update it a bit.
I decided to try the Butterick 6388 view D dress again because the first one I made was so very comfortable. For this version I planned to add 3 inches to the length and then put in the pockets that I left out of the first version. Out of the 7 pattern pieces that needed to be cut for this dress, I only had to add length to two of them. This did lower the pockets 3 inches as well. I was able to get everything cut out except the top one back piece. I made identical extensions to both back pieces and then recut them. Now they have extra 'style seams' across the back.
The dress went together pretty quickly and I used the serger for many of the seams. I did not remember to reinforce the shoulder seams though and I may regret that later.

Positioning the collar before sewing it down

Before I finished the sleeves and hemmed the dress I tried it on and realized that it was too large. Looking back at the pattern pieces I realized I had cut out a size XL this time instead of the L that I made last time. So, now it looked more like I was wearing a sleeping bag instead of a dress. I called mom and she pinned in the side seams under the arms.

Side seams pinned in to add shape

I basted in a new seam line and then finished it with the serger. I ended up taking in about 3 inches at the widest point.

Before basting the seam line

I played around with a few options for the top-stitching. There are flecks of several colors in the fabric, so I auditioned several bright color threads that I rarely get to use.

I think any of these would have worked, but I chose to go with the gold color in the middle

The yoke, front seams, sleeve seams, and pocket openings all got gold top-stitching. The sleeves got turned under 1" and the hem was turned under 1 1/4", basted and then sewed in with a wavy stitch.

Hem turned under 1 1/4"

Wavy stitching on sleeve

The dress has been worn to work several times and it so very comfortable the entire day. The gray goes background lets me pair it with about any color of tights and jewelry. Necklaces are a bit awkward with the high neckline though, so a couple of my brooches have gotten an outing.