Bonus Party Dress: New Look 6643

(Just a wee warning before we begin. These photos are an unfortunate documentation of before and after. The inbetween part involved 12 long hours of end of year work drinks in the sun. The before photos are taken in a rush out the door at the one time of day where the light makes it impossible to capture anything clearly and sadly the after photos document the worst hangover I’ve had all  year. Who knew it was possible to look washed out, sunburnt and puffy all at once?)

After sulking for a minute when Dress #2 of my Party Panic Wardrobe didn’t quite capture the summer feeling I wanted, I made a super quick Spotlight trip on Thursday night and grabbed a couple of metres of this tomato red Ponte de Roma.

Let me tell you – if you’re sewing in a hurry this forgiving double knit is the way to go. It hugs and hides and wears so well that if you make impatient mistakes, who cares? Certainly not this fabric.

I grabbed an old fave, New Look 6643 (last seen here). Cutting view C, I made a quick and dirty FBA and free handed a scoop neck front and back (in red below). If I’d had more time I would have done a more considered line but it worked fine.

This is a simple flattering pattern which makes it a quick sew and I sped it up more by using some spare black bias binding to finish the neck and arm-holes rather than cutting from the fabric. Plus with the double knit, there was no need to insert a zipper! All in all it took about 3 hours including cutting and adjusting the pattern.

In the morning to make it a little more festive I made a bow from two tubes of fabric and a safety pin. Hurrah – instantly Christmassy.

Bonus is that without the bow, it makes the perfect Saturday afternoon coffee-grabbing-hangover-recovery dress 🙂