This past winter, I initially "signed up for" Scruffy Badger's New Look 6000 Frock Fest. I couldn't make time to buy the fabric and sew up the pattern, though, so I gave up and ducked out sheepishly (or, duckishly). Blogging-related guilt is one of the strangest types of guilt. Maybe I'll do a sociological analysis of this. Hm no.
Anyway, here's my stab at the New Look 6000 frock, beyond late to the fest. I know, I know. Something's... off. Can you spot it?
It's not the fact that I haven't mastered the sad-60s-secretary pout that this model has. It's that my side pleats lay on the right side of my body, instead of the left side where they're supposed to be. Meh. No parents, no rules. This is an easy mistake because the whole front is just one weird accordion-looking piece, and as someone who's sewn from several dozens of patterns in my life, I automatically placed the pattern piece to cut on the wrong side of the fabric. Oops. Wrong side.
Venture onward.
This is a risky pattern for me. Shift dresses make me self conscious, and even in a double knit this required a lot of tweaking on fit: take in a thousand inches around the waist and lower back, let out a thousand inches in the hips. Luckily the center back seam and darts help with adjustments like that. And yet, the fabric still drags and pulls in mysterious ways. As for the front, it's unfortunate that the pattern has no way to help shape the side opposite all those pleats. On my initial fitting, it drooped sadly on my left half so I made the pleats deeper and longer to take in some of the extra fabric. It worked okay.
I had a weird feeling about these pleats from the beginning. Especially in gray, it kept reminding me of...
Oh dear.
Overall, I feel fine about this dress but I actually doubt I'll wear it that often. It's not, uh, something I'd wear out with my peers or anything. Luckily it didn't take too long because I used a Ponteroma knit and omitted the zipper and back vent. I jumped into this project quickly because I'm starting a new job this coming week (in my new city!) and I wanted some more "business casual" attire. But maybe wearing a figure-hugging armadillo dress with little chicken wing sleeve cuffs isn't the best first impression.
How many animal names have I mentioned in this blog post? Badger, sheep, duck, armadillo, chicken. Five.
Do any of you have suggestions or recommendations for other office-appropriate dress patterns that don't feature shark gills?
Shark. That makes six.
