NL6211, but barely

My 3rd and final sibling in law finally got married, and I decided that I needed a new dress. A couple of years ago I lost a decent amount of weight, and while I’ve had to work at it to keep it off, I’ve managed to do so for the most part. So I had to get rid of a lot of old clothes, and I’ve been slow to make new ones. I’ve been a fan of New Look 6211 for ages. I’ve even made it once in a woven, the way God….or at least some dude named Suede intended. But I’m more of a knit dress woman, so I made some adjustments and even did the little side cutouts (which ended up really cute, so I’m glad I did!) So if you want your own version in a knit, here’s a list of what I did.

• FBA. Every time.
• Took off the waistband.
• Lengthened the skirt to make up the difference from removing the waistband (completely unnecessary unless you have the legs of a giraffe.)
• Left out the zipper.
• Sweetheart neckline (my hubby said he loved the neckline before he said anything else, guess it made an impression.)
• Made facings for the neckline. Someone might know how to bind a sweetheart neckline, but that person is not me.)
• I made a binding on the cutouts to help stabilize them. I’d do it again.
• I added some elastic to the waist seam to help stabilize it too. I’d also do that again.

So it sounds like a lot of changes, and it is, but it isn’t. The hardest part was the overlapped skirt (that you have to partially hem before attaching at the side seams) in a shifty knit and getting the neckline to stay put with all the staystitching and stuff (I’m going to test some heat n bond on the scraps to see if I can get it to stick without messing up the crinkle texture because I wasn’t completely happy with how it laid.) Update: I did the heat n bond, and it seems to work pretty well. I applied it using steam, and held it with my hand once it got cool enough to handle to help it fully set. Still doesn’t lay perfectly flat, but it’s ignorable at this point.

The result? I LOVE it. The side cutout thingys are surprisingly flattering on an apple/goblet/rectangular body shape. The skirt part is going to be made again into just a skirt. I love how swishy and twirly it is. Plus, mullet hems are 100% cooler than mullet hair, and you’ll never convince me otherwise.

Closeup of the fabric. Very cool looking, super lightweight, and hotter than hades. The cutouts make for nice ventilation though. 😉

I did make a small error on the neckline here…my understitching flattened one of the curves a bit. But on the body it’s not noticeable.

I fill this dress out much nicer than my dressform, I promise!

Last minute stockings

I realized this year that we only have 3 stockings, and there are 4 of us. Considering that our stockings were old, came from Dollar General, and falling apart, I knew there was no way to find another one that matched the ones we had. Which left me with two options: a) make some out of cute Christmas fabric, or b) buy some of those ugly fuzzy ones from Walmart. I think you can guess which option I chose. 😉

I used the pattern from FabricWorm, and the assembly tutorial from Megan Neilsen’s blog. Well, kinda. I used some fleece from my stash to line only one side of my stocking (two layers seemed too bulky), and used the same fleece (it’s white) to make the cuff. I had some off white satin ribbon from who-knows-what laying on the floor of my sewing room, so I sewed it in half and used it for the hanging loop.

I think they turned out pretty stinkin’ cute. 😉

For Irish

Mine

Hubby’s

For Scotch

All together now!