New Look 6150 review

I am finally posting a project I finished back in the autumn, since my notoriously camera-shy daughter allowed me to corner her to photograph the finished project.

For this project, we opted for the simpler, boatneck T-shirt version, with elbow-length ruched sleeves, in part because this was my first-ever knit project in nearly thirty years.  We opted for a light-to-medium weight sweater knit in an abstract print.

Since I don't have a serger, I sewed the seams with the narrowest possible zigzag stitch and finished them with my machine's overcast stitch.

The hems were pinned up and topstitched with a double needle.

Overall, this was a very easy project, which I would recommend for a relative beginner who has a good understanding of their sewing machine (I made it up in about one-and-a-half hours, including layout and cutting).

The only alteration that was required was taking in the centre back seam about one inch total at the neckline to rectify a bit of a gap.

The directions in the pattern were fairly straightforward, the only hint of a challenge coming from the application of the elastic used to ruche the sleeves.

Draft day

Recently, a friend asked me to make a duplicate of her favourite draped cardigan, which was somewhat the worse for wear after an office move.  The original was somewhat similar to this but in black, and more flared at the hem.

The other day, I used the original to make a master pattern on grid paper, which I have since copied onto waxed tissue.  In the interest of fitting it all onto one sheet of pattern tissue, I copied it without seam allowances, which will be cut in when the pattern is applied to the fabric, a rayon-elastane knit with a fair bit of horizontal stretch, nearly identical to the viscose-elastane blend of the original.

I also copied out the pieces for New Look 6150, view A, which is a surplice mock wrap top with three-quarter-length sleeves.  The plan is to make a wearable muslin in this medium-weight sweater knit in abstract floral, which has been sitting in my stash since late summer.  The pattern has been there for nearly a year, waiting for the proper fabric to make it up. 

Once I've mastered the fit, I plan to adapt the pattern for the bodice of a mock wrap dress (skirt based on either Gertie's Knit Pencil Skirt or Sew-So-Easy's wrap dress) to be sewn in this lovely bright printed knit.