Tea Party Dress (another New Look 6048!)
It's another New Look 6048! As you can probably tell by now, I love this pattern and feel very comfortable wearing it. The fabric for this dress was another Village Haberdashery purchase. This was my first Rifle Paper Co. fabric purchase, and it is the 'Wonderland Alice Tea Party' in black. I have always loved the story of Alice in Wonderland and when I saw this tea party themed print, knew I had to have it. The colour palette is very me and it's fun but not too excessive.
Choosing this pattern for this print was easy, as the fabric is a cotton, but more of a quilting cotton in terms of weight and drape. I find NL 6048 good for this kind of fabric as I like when the skirt has some shape to it. I remember being in the store and messaging the husband with a question: 'Would a whole dress in this print be too much?' The answer was a resounding yes, so I bought enough for the skirt and picked up some plain black cotton sateen and a complementary sky blue zipper from John Lewis to match it.
I'm really glad I made that choice to not make the whole dress with that fabric, as I do think it would have been too much. That being said, I actually love the way the zipper looks against the black. I know most people would have used an invisible zip but I like the pop of colour and how well it links with the colours in the pattern.
In terms of sizing, I made my usual size of 14, but used slightly larger seam allowances to make it more of a size 13. I have also made a few adjustments to my bodice pieces, taking 1/2" out of the princess seams at the top of the bust to get it to fit my curves better. I think that might all be a shortcut to doing an FBA (and that might have been the better choice), but I didn't know how to do that at the time! I also left the contrast band off, which I have done before. The pattern pieces and construction method actually are sized to have a whole bodice and the band goes on top, so it's simply a matter of leaving those pieces off and actually makes the dress easier to construct.
I love this dress! It's another of those quirky but not crazy outfits, and I do get comments whenever I wear it to work... From the small children. And I am happy to please!
Choosing this pattern for this print was easy, as the fabric is a cotton, but more of a quilting cotton in terms of weight and drape. I find NL 6048 good for this kind of fabric as I like when the skirt has some shape to it. I remember being in the store and messaging the husband with a question: 'Would a whole dress in this print be too much?' The answer was a resounding yes, so I bought enough for the skirt and picked up some plain black cotton sateen and a complementary sky blue zipper from John Lewis to match it.
I'm really glad I made that choice to not make the whole dress with that fabric, as I do think it would have been too much. That being said, I actually love the way the zipper looks against the black. I know most people would have used an invisible zip but I like the pop of colour and how well it links with the colours in the pattern.
In terms of sizing, I made my usual size of 14, but used slightly larger seam allowances to make it more of a size 13. I have also made a few adjustments to my bodice pieces, taking 1/2" out of the princess seams at the top of the bust to get it to fit my curves better. I think that might all be a shortcut to doing an FBA (and that might have been the better choice), but I didn't know how to do that at the time! I also left the contrast band off, which I have done before. The pattern pieces and construction method actually are sized to have a whole bodice and the band goes on top, so it's simply a matter of leaving those pieces off and actually makes the dress easier to construct.
I love this dress! It's another of those quirky but not crazy outfits, and I do get comments whenever I wear it to work... From the small children. And I am happy to please!
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