New Look 6723

How are you all today? I'm feeling nice and rested still after spending last week on holiday up in Northumberland with my family. Obviously I had to make a couple of new things to take with me, which means that I can treat you to some different photo backdrops for my next couple of posts, starting with this version of New Look 6723...

It's a pretty pattern with a princess seamed bodice, full skirt and a sweetheart or higher neckline, and sleeveless, short sleeve or three-quarter sleeved options. Oh, and a lined bodice - which is definitely my favourite finish.

I bought the pattern partly because I decided that I'd like a couple of dresses with slightly lower necklines. As is probably evident by now, I love my Emery dresses but their one downside is that I can't wear my necklaces (nothing posh, just pretty!) with them. So I was definitely going to try the sweetheart version of New Look 6723 first, and it's summer so sleeveless seemed like a good option.

The fabric is Gütermann Long Island Rose. I got it from Weaver Dee when they had it half price, but they don't seem to have it in stock anymore.

It surprised me a little when it arrived - I was expecting the print to be smaller scale and the background to be navy, whereas it's definitely a grey-blue and in some lights looks much more grey than blue. It's a lovely quality cotton though, and the more I looked at it the more I thought that it was probably actually nicer than what I thought I was buying. Surprises are good when they're nice surprises!

I made a couple of changes to the pattern. Firstly, the sweetheart bodice has a centre front seam, which I assume is to make it easier to get a nice point on the sweetheart shape. I didn't really want a seam there breaking up the fairly large-scale print though, so I chose to cut the bodice on the fold instead. I reinforced the stitching at the centre point, and cut as far down into the seam allowance towards the point as I dared, and that's produced a perfectly good shape as far as I'm concerned.

I also added pockets as I'm fairly prone to hay fever-type sneezing fits so it's always good to have somewhere to put a tissue! I just stole the pattern pieces from the Emery dress - nice and simple. I know some people don't understand the fascination with pockets, but I definitely find that I miss them when they're not there.

The pattern uses a lapped zip, but I had an invisible zip ready to use so I went with that option instead. That meant that I had to do a couple of the other steps slightly differently, but that mainly affects the finish on the lining not the actual dress itself.

When it came to picking a size, I tried out my theory I mentioned in my post about my last dress of sizing down in the shoulders to avoid underarm gaping. I made a size 14 at the shoulders, grading out to a size 16 from the bust downwards and it worked a treat - no underarm gaping in sight!

Other than that, I just needed to make my standard adjustment of adding length to the bodice (although only 1.5 cm, so less than usual).

I like this dress a lot more than I was expecting to when the fabric arrived. It's really pretty, but I think the grey in the background dilutes the sweetness of it a bit so stops it from being too girly and twee. I love the shape as well - so much so that I'm thinking of cutting into some prized Liberty lawn for another 6723. What do you think, should I do it?!