Tag Archives: New Look 6699

Scrap dress

04/01/2011 5:18 am \ 23 Comments \

You know how after a sewing project is finished you nearly always end up with scraps, sometimes of such a decent size you can’t toss them out… but not enough to do anything with on their own.  So sometimes I try to actually cobble these scraps together to make some sort of wearable thing.  This is a plan that meets with variable success… 
In spite of which, I’ve made a simple little day dress, out of some of my most recently generated scraps.  I think it will be OK for this summer.  Basically it was a free dress.  Oh, OK I did have to buy a zip, so technically it cost a couple of dollars.
I used New Look 6699 again, modified.  I kind of winged the skirt, as I didn’t have enough fabric for anything.  This one falls somewhere in between the two in the pattern; more A-line that the pencil version, but not as wide as the other.  The lower tiers are all attached under the hem of the top skirt.  I hemmed some but not all of the tiers, because I like the idea of the skirt getting a little raggedy and frayed, I think this look will accentuate the vaguely peasant-y vibes the dress has already.
I also altered the neckline of the bodice and put in a picture below of the bodice and pattern pieces, for the following reason:  My sister-in-law and I were recently discussing a pattern which she had dismissed because it was a V neck, but of course the neckline of a bodice is the easiest thing to alter about a pattern.  You don’t have to cut along the lines of the pattern, just cut out the one you prefer.  Also this pattern has sun-dressy straps with buttons closure at the back while I wanted a one-piece back bodice, so I just pinned the two pieces together and cut out as illustrated below in the photo.  One thing to keep in mind, if you do this you will need a longer zip…  This fabric is the leftovers from Sam’s shirt.

This is a close-up of the shot cotton fabric I used for Craig’s shirt, the leftovers of which are the midriff and the lower tier of my new dress.  Here you can see the bright blue warp and the neon yellow weft.  Amazing to think such a subdued colour can come from these brights, no?

The bodice is lined with the leftovers of the primrose voile I used for the petticoat of my Christmas dress.  The scraps of the Christmas dress itself have been used as one of the skirt tiers, and as bias binding on the neck and armhole edges.  Actually I think this bright floral bias binding against the black and white check turned out to be my favourite feature of this dress.

The other blue skirt tier is from the very last leftovers from this shirt and this dress.
The skirt front and back is the leftovers from this dress.

Detail:
Dress; New Look 6699 with modifications, partly my own design, various cottons
Sandals; Mican by Joanne Mercer, from Hobbs shoes
Nail varnish; BYS Mint Condition

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On ankle-strap shoes

11/12/2010 3:02 am \ 10 Comments \

Shoes with ankle straps are tricky.  I have this firm belief that they shorten and stumpify (I didn’t make up that word but isn’t it just perfect?!) women’s legs. Now shortening and stumpifying might be desirable to the rare woman with very long and skinny legs, and such woman may may experience an inexplicable wish to sabotage this wonderful feature of her body… but I think it’s safe to say for most of us we have the opposite intentions.  
So with this in mind I avoid ankle strap shoes like the plague.
I think they can ONLY be successful in very few cases; listed as follows:
1. You are the above mentioned lucky willow who wants her legs to appear shorter and … er,  stumpier…
2. You are wearing an above-knee garment.  No exceptions.  A skirt or dress hitting at or just below the knee, combined with a strap wrapped around the ankle; well that short section of calf in between hem and strap is not going to be flattered by being visually sliced off at it’s slimmest points ie, the ankle and the point just below the knee.  Oh OK, well it’s occurred to me there is an exception to this one; as follows:
3. You are wearing a floor scraping number, and so your ankles are hidden from sight underneath, in which case go for the ankle straps with a clear conscience.  No one can see the fashion crime occurring visually underneath your fabulous maxi-dress.  Relax and enjoy your cocktail.
Now this pair of shoes is the closest I have to ankle-strap shoes, and I did weight this fact up before deciding to purchase, and I ended up (obviously) going for them because the ankle strap was firstly, low enough that it sits over the foot, really more of a shoelace-y effect rather than an ankle strap, and secondly, the strap is really really skinny.  But possibly my ankle-strap phobia is the reason I don’t wear these shoes more often…
But my dress hits just above knee.  So I think it’s OK.  Hopefully the fashion police won’t come a-knocking…

Details:
Dress; NewLook 6699 with modifications, various printed cottons
Scarf; black net, refashioned from an old skirt lining
Shoes; Jocomomola

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Dress with, er, lace

13/11/2010 4:52 am \ 19 Comments \

OK, so my lace addiction is so well documented by now, no need to make any lame excuses… I saw a dress kind of similar to this in a boutique window and I wanted to make something like… as well, the Dolce and Gabbana Spring 2011 is a big inspiration and I’ve bookmarked a few looks for my inspiration folder.  Didn’t want to go crazy over the top with lace however as this is more than well represented in my wardrobe already, hehe…
I had bought the fabric a few months back and thought about it for a while, as you do… when I got the urge to embark on it one Sunday lunchtime I set myself a little challenge.  I decided to see if I could get a whole dress finished by the end of the day.  And I’m happy to say that, apart from the hem, I did.  Including the Hong Kong finishing to the seams, and hand-stitching the bodice facing on the inside and to the zip tape; and hand-stitching the lace on the midriff.  I had only bought about 70-75cm of this Italian lace (rough measure, because they do not cut motifs in half, obviously) which was just perfectly the exact right length to go around the midriff with the tiniest of leftovers, and very fortunately the lace motifs matched up perfectly so that two were perfectly and evenly spaced on the front, and three were perfectly and evenly spaced on the back.  This serendipity of perfect spacing is a matter of pure luck, not clever planning; the patron saint of dressmakers was truly smiling upon me that afternoon! (and, who is the patron saint of dressmakers, btw?)

(at left, the front; at right, the back)

As usual the hem took a few weeks of further contemplation…  I finished it this morning, so I’ll be able to wear it out to a dinner with friends tonight.  Because I decided I wanted the dress longish, like the Dolce and Gabbana collection, I made a wide bias hemming strip.  Hemming in this way gives you the high quality of a deep hem without any loss of length; for this I used for this the same black cotton as the Hong Kong binding. 

The fabric; the bodice is slippery-dippery ivory silk crepe and faced in the same fabric; the skirt is a divine-to-work-with nubbly linen/cotton mix, with woven pinstripes in charcoal and ivory.  The skirt is unlined as I want it to be cool in summer, and anyhow I felt it unnecessary to line this one.  Just a dressmaker’s instinct.
The pattern; I’ve used this New Look 6699 pattern quite a lot, and made just a few adjustments to get the look and silhouette I wanted for this dress; demonstrated in the pictures below.  Firstly, the zip has been inserted in the left side seam rather than the centre back.  This allowed me to eliminate the whole centre back seam and the back pieces are cut as one piece each (see below left, these pieces are all cut on the fold).  Not having a centre back seam enables the details of the beautifully worked lace to stand out and shine, uninterrupted by a distracting cut-and-join right in the middle.

I wanted for the skirt to be slightly long and A-line rather than a pencil style, so tapered the sides out just a little (pictured above left).  The bodice in this pattern has a sun-dress style of shoulder strap at the back, which incidentally I’ve never used and did NOT want for this dress either; way too casual a look.  So the back bodice piece and shoulder strap piece were pinned together and the back bodice cut as one piece, (pictured above right). 

Details:
Dress; based on New Look 6699, ivory silk and charcoal pinstriped linen
Shoes; Sandler (I’ve had these for years)

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Downgrading a “good” dress

01/11/2010 9:22 am \ 10 Comments \

Does anyone else downgrade their dresses?  Move the snazzies out of category “with heels and make-up only” and over to “OK to walk the dog in”?
Last year this dress was a “good” dress.  I wore it to lots of formal lunches, parties and end-of-year functions, as well as a wedding (and this dress for the reception dinner and dance afterwards)  And this year I’ve made a few new party numbers to see me out for the seasonal social whirl… but I still love this dress and want to give it an outing once in a while… well, how could I not love it; it’s lace!
Luckily it’s quite subdued in colour and style and not overly sparkly or glamourous, so I’ve delegated it duty as a nice-ish everyday dress, just to wear out and about.  In its early life as a party dress, I went through the ritual of the “gently swooshing by hand in a bucket” cleaning routine.  Then started tossing it in a lingerie bag in with other delicates… then eventually, throwing caution to the winds, sans lingerie bag and just in with the general light clothes.  The first time I dared to do this I worried how the gathered silk chiffon midriff and sash would hold up…  but it survived that test and actually stood up pretty good.  So I reckon it can thankfully shed the lace-and-silk-diva label and has earned its place in amongst the daily players.
Oh, and the heels aren’t just for show; although I did wear thongs (flipflops) for walking the dog, here I was on my way to morning tea with the Monday gals… just thought I’d point that out after my post on “honest blogging” the other day…!

Details:
Dress; some design adaptions of New Look 6699, beige lace, silk chiffon midriff and sash, lined with swiss voile
Sandals; Marco Santini, from Marie Claire shoes
Sunnies; RayBans

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One year in cyber-space; and a Give-Away

12/10/2010 4:34 am \ 32 Comments \

Today exactly one year ago I started blogging here about my sewing, and as it turned out, some other stuff too! 🙂
To mark the occasion, I thought it might be fun to wear again today the same dress I did on my very first blog post, a quiet celebration for it being the First Dress Here, so to speak.  Although of course, at the time it was only about a year old… far from the oldest thing in my wardrobe.  I think my photo taking has improved a lot, what do you think?
(photo at right from my blog, 12 October 2009)

And to thank YOU, lovely readers, I decided to have a GIVE-AWAY!
I did put some thought into this: since my blog is supposed to be about sewing, knitting and looking your best; I tried to have a little of each represented… so I have selected a sewing pattern, a knitting book and a little arm bracelet to give to a loyal reader.
The sewing pattern is New Look 6317, it is multi-sized from 10-22, and is still pristine and uncut in its envelope.  I think this is referred to as “factory folded” in ebay speak, but since I don’t go there hardly ever I could be wrong…  It is both easy and versatile, and includes a simple straight skirt, a jumper or sweater, and a coat pattern; all very simple and uncluttered in cut and line so a pattern ripe for customising in however way you wish.

(Using this pattern, New Look 6317, you could easily re-create either of these designer looks for yourself; at left from Michael Kors Fall 2010, at right from Yves St Laurent pre Fall 2010)
The knitting book is “Wild Tea Cosies” by Loani Prior, an Australian knitting designer; you might remember some of my projects from this book I’ve posted about here in the past.  It has a fabulous variety of fun designs, all using only a few balls of wool, and all quick projects that will take a fraction of the time of a full-sized knitted garment.  Coffee drinkers; you could just as easily adapt these designs to a coffee pot as for a tea pot.  This is a book that a beginner (who knows basic stitches) can cut their teeth on, and work their way up to some of the more complex designs over time; and I guarantee you won’t get bored with your project as it will be finished in a flash, and you can delight your friends with some crazy and unique gifts.
The beaded bracelet is just a silly little thing; a variety of black beaded strands, tied up with a black gauze bow.  It is elasticated so can slip over your hand to sit snugly and chicly on your wrist.  Cool, no?
Unlike other (kinda mean) giveaways I’ve seen in blog-land, this is open to Everyone in the World!  And also, obviously, this is one I’m funding myself and I’m not receiving any endorsements or sponsorship by doing this.

You can enter into my give away by doing the following:

1. Becoming a follower of my blog (please leave a comment here to let me know if you do, so I know you are there)
2. If you are already a follower, just by leaving a comment on this post,
3. IF you have a blog, by linking to my blog OR by mentioning this give-away on your own blog.

This give-away will be open for a week, so next Tuesday, 19th October I will randomly pick one from the comments I receive here and announce a winner…
and thankyou for reading!

Details from top:
Dress; New Look 6699, with some of my own adaptions, coffee and black lace over ivory silk
Sandals; Joanne Mercer for Micam, from Hobbs shoes
Necklace; my own design

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Tennis, anyone?

03/09/2010 7:07 am \ 2 Comments \

Day 3 of Self Stitched September! and OK, so with honesty I’m not actually playing tennis in this ensemble…
This dress was made for last summer; my own design variations based upon New Look 6699, for more details and a full view of the dress, see here.  This dress goes by the dubious moniker of the Straitjacket dress, for the reason that I installed a much too short zip in the side seam, and so it requires some degree of crazy struggling to get it on and off.  I know, I know, get with the programme, just buy a new zip and put it in already, but really the few minutes of undignified struggling in the dressing room is a minor inconvenience compared to to the prospect of the alternative; fiddling about with the unpicking and putting in of a new invisible zip, and this one is actually perfect (if I say so myself), with all seams on the bodice, midriff and skirt lining up so perfectly I just don’t have the heart to re-do it.  Ho hum, too many other more exciting projects await to be bothered with that, so…  the Straitjacket dress is here to stay as it is… !
And because the air is still a little brisk today I slipped on my seersucker trench coat, which I made for summer two years ago using Burda 7786, first seen here.
And roll on summer!

Details:
Dress; my own design variations based on New Look 6699, two different printed and embroidered cottons
Trench coat; Burda 7786, white seersucker

Shoes; Country Road
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The summer in review

01/03/2010 4:38 am \ 4 Comments \

Today is officially the first day of autumn.  Seems kind of hilarious given that it’s going to be 37C again, and will continue to be in the high thirties for another week or so… anyhoo, I thought I’d review my most worn items of clothing over the past summer.  Now I don’t take my photo every day, and I am making an effort to rotate through the wardrobe and wear everything once in a while, but that being said there are still the favourites that I turn to time and time again on my days “off” from posing for a photo because a. they are comfortable and b. I feel good in them.  So I guess these clothes sum up “my style” for the summer (inverted commas because I’m still a bit hazy on what the heck my style even is!)…
It’s been an extremely hot summer with comfortable days few and far in between so it’s hardly surprising that the coolest items in my wardrobe have been the most popular, which means lots of white… even so I was surprised at how consistent my colour palette has been, and strong and bright.  I seem to have gone for greens and raspberry pink quite a lot this season.  For the five or six semi-formal functions I’ve attended I’ve gone for the beige lace dress I made at the beginning of last spring (for which I’ve received many compliments from very kind friends); I made it under the influence of the “nude” colour trend that was about at the time.  Not all of these clothes were made by me, but I tried to be honest about the clothes I’ve turned to most frequently and this included a few store-bought items and one op shop item; in the evenings, or when I’ve required a light cool cardigan, my turquoise and hot pink cardigans from Metalicus have been my go-to’s, and without a doubt my most worn accessory has been my cheap little necklace I bought from the surf shop at Rottnest about four years ago… even so looking over these I’m pretty pleased that most of my daily wear falls in to the handmade category… how about your wardrobe?  Have you worn mostly your own clothes lately?

Details:
Dresses;(nude) my own design variations based on New Look 6699, two types of beige lace and purple shot  silk
               (white) Simplicity3745, spotted swiss voile with lace trim
Necklace; from the surf shop on Rottnest Island
Skirts; (lime print) Vogue 7303, cotton
             (white cotton) bought from Old Navy, Capetown South Africa
           (olive green) Vogue 7303, corduroy
           (red floral)Vogue 2894, cotton
Shorts; Burda 7723, white linen
Tops; New Look 6252, lime green linen
          New Look 6252, white seersucker
          (pink) Aztec Rose, op shop
          (apricot) Country Road
Cardigans; both from Metalicus

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By the lake

10/02/2010 4:28 am \ 6 Comments \
Today the sky is grey and white; the sun is veiled behind an impenetrable smudgy mattress and there’s a cool sharp tang in the air; such a relief after a hot few days.  For those of us who like photography; we’re joyously bursting out of the shadows and into the open air with our cameras, as the lack of harsh direct sunlight means a return to our pictures of some focus, details and colour!  Yes, colour is the first victim in our strong Australian light, and as for details such as a pretty print or beautiful embroidery, well subtle contrasts just disappear into a general blob of indeterminate brightness.
Another cause for general celebration is the opportunity for me to don a cardigan; and I JUST LOVE cardigans!  They’re a wardrobe item I can’t get enough of….  Oh, yeah, apart from shoes.  And sandals…. and, er, ok then, lots of other stuff too… oh,  I’m such a fashion sucker.
I left my sunnies off for this photo, partly because I felt I was wearing them way too much in my photos and I wanted to mix it up a little, and partly because I thought I could get away without them in this more subdued light, but it’s actually still pretty bright out today.  I’m trying hard not to squint in this photo, not very successfully I can see now.  Well, it’s actually supposed to be about the fashion and not about my face, really.
I’ve worn this dress on and off over summer; this is the one with a too-short zip that entails much wriggling and tugging to actually get on and off, imagine a deranged lunatic struggling with a strait-jacket in a padded cell and you’re getting some idea.  I love the embroidery and appliqué on this fabric, and the odd subdued colours.  I think they’re set off well with this bright aqua silk scarf, and a little demure charcoal cardigan.
Details:
Dress; my own design variations on New Look 6699, using two cotton prints
Cardigan; Country Road
Scarf; aqua silk chiffon, made by me
Sandals; Micam by Joanne Mercer, bought from Hobbs
Nail varnish; my own mix of BYS French White and Mint Condition
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