New Look 6723 Pattern Review

This past weekend was my brother's wedding so I finally got to watch the bride wearing the dress I made. She was thrilled with it, exactly what she wanted, she said, it sure fit her mood. She look radiant and happy and I'm glad the dress contributed it a small portion.

This pattern it's a simple princess seamed dress with a gathered skirt. She chose the sweetheart neckline version and no sleeves. The fabric is a beautiful silk shantung. The bodice is lined and the skirt interlined with cotton batiste. I added bra stays and a waist stay.

I made several muslins to get the fit right, some of it was done by looking at pictures and some by traveling back and forth. The toughest is always the bodice and I talked about my alterations in a previous post. All the changes were done to fit her body I found no fault with this pattern. The only mentionable is that the length is on the short side, on my SIL who is not very tall, the hemmed length hit her just below her knees.

I had fun making silk flowers to give her the option of adding them at the waist. She chose not to wear them but plans on adding them to her straw hat when he goes on her honeymoon next week :-)The single rose was made using the technique described in High-Fashion Sewing Secrets by Claire B Shaeffer. I loosely gathered the fabric to obtained the open rose effect and then I strung some beads and added it to the center.



These I made following Laura's excellent tutorial. I combined the silk shantung with a beautiful but horribly hard to work with silk chiffon.



Here are a couple of snapshots of the wedding day. My dress is Butterick 6582, and I was very happy with it. My brother wore a traditional Cuban guayabera, the temperature in New York City was in the high 80's with very high humidity and the church was not air conditioned :o