Completed New Look 6457 - Albeit A Little Short

First week back at work after the Christmas and New Year break. Always tough, no matter how much you enjoy  your job.

This year, the first week back was made a little more bearable by the fact that I've spent virtually all of my non-working hours doing the one thing we all love to do....sitting at the sewing machine and finishing something.

My first complete project of 2011 - New Look 6457 (option E) with amendments

Ok, I'll begin by admitting that my judgment in terms of skirt length was slightly off and this dress is even a little short for me. There's no getting away from it. That being said, when worn with jodhpur leggings rather than flimsy tights, it's not entirely ridiculous.

Construction wise, this was a fairly easy creation.
Instructions are straight-froward and there are fewer pieces than other patterns I've made in the past which always limits the number of mistakes one can make!

My only issue was with the neckline......it ended up sitting fairly awkwardly, creating gaps between the dress and my chest.

In the end, I had to come to terms with the fact that I was suffering from my age-old issue I have with clothing - my bust is fuller than the pattern allowance.

Unfortunately, it was a little late for 'hidden' adjustments on this one so I had no choice but to add darts into the neckline to remove the excess material and make it lay flat against my chest.......
Now, diagonal darts (that I could have made look as though they were purposefully added) just wouldn't flow into the bust seams smoothly, no matter how hard I tried. And the harder I tried, the more frustrated I became.
So eventually I succumbed to the final lone option of adding a centre dart instead. It wasn't particularly pretty, but on a positive note, it called for some fabulous buttons to act as camouflage.

I also added an external, fully visible zip to the dress, updating the pattern to match current designs you might find in the shops. I tend to have a soft spot for them.

Overall, I'm fairly pleased with the results and have learnt my lesson to include darts into the pattern from the beginning when making anything with a low neckline............
Alternatively, I could stop being so lazy and create a muslin version before moving onto the real thing.

Hmmmm, anyone else suffer from the temptation to skip the (often much needed) practice piece???