New Look 6843 – 3 ways

Confession time! This post has been sat in draft since March… (I know I know) I’ve been rescheduling this for ages because I thought I had lost ALL of the photos for this post, but I luckily found them earlier this week!

This pattern was one of my #2017makenine picks at the start of the year, and I’ve made 3 so far! These were part of my sewing plans for February but it took a while to photograph them all!

My first version is in this royal blue gingham cotton I picked up on sale from John Lewis for just £2.50 a metre! I had a fair few fitting issues at first – I made my normal adjustments based on measurements but there is definitely a lot of ease in this pattern and it was laughably big! I keep making things too large – must learn to trust the finished measurements! I made view E with the wide neck and no sleeves. This version has an all-in-one facing so the armhole seams are all neatly enclosed. The gingham doesn’t really need to be ironed (woo!) but because it’s the 5mm size squares, it doesn’t look too kitsch so I’ve been wearing this with jeans or for work. I have found that this version feels a little large around the back and I definitely need to take another look at the sway back adjustment I made, so I want to experiment with a slight narrow back adjustment in future. I did try to pattern match the check a little bit but it’s not perfect, but it’s only noticeable if you’re looking for it.

My next is this gorgeous red patterned viscose I ordered from Minerva Crafts, a steal at £4.99 a metre. It’s a really lovely quality but the length I received was printed off-grain. Thankfully it was only a bit wonky so I decided to risk it and cut with the pattern rather than with the grain. Luckily there doesn’t seem to be any twisting so I think I got away with it! I also didn’t try to pattern match though and cut so that it was close enough. It’s a repeat pattern but I think because of all of the different colours in the print it helps disguise any wonky bits. This was also view A and I love wearing it. There is a purple version of the fabric that, having looked at it again when trying to link this post, I actually really like!

My final version is this beautiful freesia viscose print that I ordered from Sewn Bristol. I’d seen it online a few times but when I saw on instagram that Amy from Almond Rock had bought some and confirmed it really was as beautiful in reality, I cracked and tried to order some. I can’t fault the service from Sewn Bristol – when I tried to order their site said they were out of stock, so I contacted them via instagram and they very kindly updated their stock figure so I could place my order. It came really fast and it is gorgeous. For this version I combined view D with the sleeves from view A, but I also adapted the sleeves using the petal sleeve hack I used here to really enhance how pretty and feminine the print is. It’s not too lightweight but it drapes really nicely. This version, however, just has a regular facing and I had real trouble keeping it flat inside the neckline. I tried top-stitching and tacking it down but it still flaps up a bit. It’s not as bad now it’s been washed and pressed a few times though! Someone at worked complimented me on this version a little while ago and was astounded that I had made it – that’s always such a nice compliment!

New Look 6483, apart from being a bit roomy, is a nice staple shell top pattern. I will definitely be making a few more this year!

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