Continuing my challenge to expand my wardrobe stylistically, I can now tick “maxi dress” off my list. Yes that’s right in a decade of sewing I have never made a maxi dress for myself. I don’t think I’ve ever owned a shop bought one either!!
Meet New Look 6692; a dress from last summer that I finally got round to. It’s a stunner of a square neckline dress pattern with midi length finish, and optional puff sleeves and skirt ruffle length variations. There are POCKETS and a simple tie at the upper back to stop the shoulders falling off.
I skipped the side seam zipper as the shirring made it easy to get on over my head. And as you can see it’s maxi length BUT I didn’t need to alter anything for that… as I’m a diddly 5ft4 the length hits me at the ankle rather than a midi.
This luscious lemon fabric is from Abakhan Mostyn. I’ve written many times about how I love finding treasure in the Abakhan remnant baskets. The baskets make up a good 50% of the dressmaking section in Mostyn and I found this lemon cotton sateen quite quickly. There was 3m and it’s quite lightweight, so it was perfect for this dress!
If I make this pattern again (highly likely) I will tinker with the bust fit a bit more. Its completely wearable but a little looser than I’d like on reflection. I might also shorten it to midi length as I’m still not convinced about maxi dresses! They just swamp me even though I think this looks cute.
Straight princess seams like this generally suit my figure and I like how you don’t see all the seam lines in this print. It’s pretty easy to fit, I’d just lose another half a cm for comfort. The skirt is a perfect fit though! I made the size 12 bodice with a size 18 skirt gathered into the waist. Next time I’d go down to a size 10 in the upper chest and bust for a lovely close fit.
Ooo! Fruit! Loving the blue colour with the popping lemons. Nice maxi style to swish about in on those hot summer days.