New Look 6000 - This Year's Knockoff Boden Dress

New Look 6000 - This Year's Boden Knockoff

When I saw this argyle fine-wale corduroy on Fabric.com, I knew it had to be mine.  Once I received it, the design was a little busier than I had anticipated, so I chose a simple line for the dress.  This sheath from New Look has several variations for sleeve and neck.  I used version E and the only changes that I made were to:

1. use an invisible zipper vs adding a flap (mostly because I already had the invisible zipper on hand.)

2. change the cuff - the pointy cuff looked funny on my muslin, so I opted to square off the ends and have them overlap, topped off by decorative buttons.

3. top-stitch the hem.  The pattern called for edge finish and slip stitch, but the fabric was so thin that I worried my stitching would show.  I could have finally tried the blind hem stitch on my machine, but I was in a hurry, so I just top-stitched and am happy with the result.

With regard to alterations, I cut a smaller size than usual (turns out I have been cutting 1-2 sizes too big on past dresses...) and just reduced the seam allowances slightly at waist and hip at side seams and reduced the back seam to 3/8 all the way down. (I made no changes to darts.) This way I was able to avoid all of the usual work that is involved when the shoulders and neck are way too big... I still ended up taking in a fair amount at armholes to reduce bulk around armholes and eliminate some bagginess across the back.

I did my best to cut the fabric in a way that would allow for the design to be straight L to R and top to bottom. (Took forever...) Due to curves and darts in the pattern, I could not always line up the pattern so that the argyle fit together perfectly at the seams, but I am fairly pleased with the results, especially at the sleeve cuff where the pattern flows from sleeve to cuff pretty nicely. 

I would definitely make this dress again.