When you’re on a good thing, stick to it they say. I’ve enjoyed New Look 6648 – only a couple of days after finishing view A, I’m done with view B!
This version has a v-neckline and 3/4 length sleeves with elastic zig-zagged along the seamlines to gather them. I’m not sold on the elastic for gathering technique, and will probably unpick this and gather them differently – possibly just with a couple of rows of straight stitching pulled up by hand.
The v-neckline is not all that low, but it is quite wide. Feels rather flashdance, really! I attached the neck binding slightly differently to the instructions, sewing it into a loop and then mitring at the centre front of the V. The resulting binding is a little wavy, especially at the back. It should probably have been shortened a couple of inches. Once again, I may unpick it and shorten it and reattach. Or I may not.
I didn’t have thread that matched exactly for this project. It’s a funny colour, that mustardy yellowish-green, and so I went with a yellow that was in stash that sort of coordinated. I didn’t want a trip to the shops just for one spool of thread! The bottom band is the same for all the views in this pattern. The front and the back pieces are each gathered at the sides, then sewn together into a tube and folded in half wrong sides together before attaching to the top. I did the gathering with straight stitches that I then pulled up to size by hand. You could use elastic instead if you wanted to, I suppose.
I made this in size 12, but possibly could have sized down to a 10. Anyway, I really enjoyed wearing it! I styled it with a tank underneath the next day to better deal with the wide neckline. The batwing sleeves are comfortable to wear, and the fitted ruched waistband seems to hide my pot belly and thick waist while still giving me shape.