Things I've Sewn Lately: Oscar de la Renta New Look 6223 (Also,Giveaway Winner!)

I am so in love with this dress -- and so sad that I probably won't get to wear it again until it warms up! I made it for the rehearsal luncheon for Andrew and Caren's wedding. 

The fabric is a gorgeous Oscar de la Renta twill from Mood. The bodice is lined with white cotton (that happens to have started life as a King-sized sheet at Ikea in the As-Is bin -- hey, it's 100% cotton!) 

The twill is slightly stretchy and does not wrinkle. I wore it on a four-hour drive to Pennsylvania on rehearsal luncheon day and was able to step out of the car, shake the skirt a bit and look like I'd just ironed it. 

I used New Look 6223, which is a great basic dress pattern. I made the cap-sleeve view, but the pattern includes a sleeveless option and a side ruched option, as well as a three-quarter sleeve.

The skirt, which from the pattern art looks gathered, actually is pleated, which is a much nicer option for such a heavy fabric, in my opinion.

While I loved the pattern pieces and the cut of the dress, I do not recommend this pattern if you're either the type of person who likes a clean inside to their garment or the type who needs to follow directions.

The pattern instructions directed you to attach the bodice lining at the neckline and then create the sleeves separately (with lining) and sew them together. Which would leave a raw edge. A raw edge on the underarm in a LINED dress? No thanks. What's the point of lining then? 

I MacGyvered a solution so that the lining completely covered the inside and there are no raw edges. I also enclosed the invisible zipper because I love the clean look the enclosed zipper gives to the inside of the garment. I serged all the skirt seams and the waist seam with white thread. I love it when everything matches, don't you?

I also had an issue where I got the waist seams matching and one side of the bodice ended up over an inch taller than the other side. I have no idea why/how that happened. Totally bizarre. I ended up picking out the top of the dress on the left side, cutting off a chunk, eyeballing the curve to get it back to the neckline and just went with it.

The dress came with pockets, though, so that kind of makes up for it?

Despite all the issues I had with this pattern, I'm sure I'll make it again, just because I think the dress is flattering and it fits well. Plus, forewarned is forearmed, right? I also imagine that the sleeveless version would be a little bit less tricky.

In general, though, I love this dress, mostly because of the fabric. I rarely wear prints, but this one just spoke to me!

ALSO: The winner of last week's blog giveaway is Kim! (You all should totally check out her blog -- it's awesome.) Email your address to aleksandra(dot)robinson(at)gmail.com and I'll send your prize ASAP. Congratulations! :)