Making a Sundress- New Look 6446

I recently received a freebie fabric from L.A. Finch Fabrics. I was very grateful for it and excited to receive it. I thought it would be perfect to use to make New Look 6446. I have been wanting to make this sundress for some time now.

New Look 6446 is a pattern for a cropped jumpsuit (think “culottes”) or romper as well as a mini or maxi length dress. There is an option to make a fabric tie to tie around your waist. You can wear it alone or with a T shirt underneath. The suggested fabrics include chambray, lightweight denim and cotton types.

My freebie fabric was none of those suggested fabrics but it worked fine. I made view B which is for the mini length sundress. Of course, for me, due to my short height, it’s not a mini dress. It actually goes until a little below my knees. But that length worked perfectly for me.

The bodice is lined but I chose not to line my dress. Next time, I will go ahead and put in the lining. I think it gives a much cleaner look rather than hemming the whole top part. It also aids in the construction of the bodice. Only thing is that I’ve never done a lining before. So this will be a new technique for me to learn. That’s always exciting. I didn’t do my usual adjustment of shortening the bodice by one inch because I wanted to see how it would look. It actually turned out fine on me but for my next dress, I think I will go ahead and shorten it by one inch. Speaking of the bodice, I made a mistake and I did not cut the front bodice piece on the fold as instructed. I noticed right as I was about to cut the fabric and I could have fixed it before cutting the pieces out, but unfortunately, I didn’t have any “folds” of fabric left to cut. I only had 2 yards of fabric to work with. So I cut the pieces with a 5/8 seam allowance and sewed it together. Also, after putting the dress on, the bust area had a lot of ease. I ended up taking in one inch off each side. I’ll have to remember that next time I make this dress, so that I can adjust the pattern ahead of time, especially if I will also put in the lining.

I had a chance to practice putting in an invisible zipper again and for the first time, I succeeded! I was so happy. I used my invisible zipper foot, which I know is a big reason why I did a good job. I followed a tutorial on how to use the invisible zipper foot. When I zipped the zipper up for the first time and it worked, it felt like I did some sort of magic.

This dress has pockets! The construction of putting in the pockets was interesting. Instead of two pieces sewn together to make a pocket, it was one rectangular piece of fabric that was folded in half to make the pocket.

A few things about this dress: The top part of the dress goes high up, almost to the neck. I like it but I read on a few reviews that some sewists didn’t like that. The straps are long enough so that you can adjust it towards the back and sew it in. However, I’ve seen some sewists sew the strap on each side of the front and back and then tie it at the top. I’ve also read that some sewists didn’t like the pleat in the front of the skirt area because it gave the dress an extra pouf and made their stomach area look pouchy. (not sure if that’s a word but think “kangaroo pouch”… and oh, I just looked it up, it is a word in the dictionary, LOL). I personally like the kangaroo pouch pleat. There are also 2 waist darts in the front and 2 waist darts in the back.

I am excited to make this dress again as a Spring sundress. I will add it to my April sewing plans. I already bought the fabric. It’s a green linen fabric. My daughter helped me pick it out. She’s really into linen dresses these days. If I have enough fabric, I will consider either making the tie for the waist and maybe even making it a maxi dress instead of a “mini” dress.

I was actually considering to make the jumpsuit that looks like culottes. It’s so cute and seems to be the most popular view. But then I realized that the zipper is in the back and considering how hard a time I had zipping and unzipping it for my dress… well, that’s just not going to work. I make a lot of trips to the bathroom.

Until then, Happy Sewing!

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