Let the Fall Sewing Begin! Butterick 6066 Review

Hello!  It's been a crazy summer here, which is why it has been 3 months since my last post.  We went on a 3 week trip to ITALY!!  Yes, it was amazing, fantastic, exciting, and every other superlative word that I can think of.  If you haven't been, save your pennies and go!  You will not regret it.  The people, the food, the landscapes, the fashion- it is all good.  

Sometime, I will blog about the travel wardrobe that I made for it, but for now, I am looking forward to FALL!

There are so many patterns that I want to try, and fabrics that I love, that I find I get more done when I sew with a plan, narrowing the focus of what I want to make.  I spent most of a day going through my stash of patterns and fabrics, and have selected my color scheme for Fall to be the colors of the harvest- burgundy and golden wheat.  

I've collected a number of solid burgundy fabrics through the years,mostly coming from Fabric Mart Bundles.  So, I'm going to challenge myself to make more detail oriented garments than I'm used to, and to mix fabric textures together.  I'm excited, and I hope that you'll follow along with my progress.  I'm always so tempted to use a print fabric and a simple pattern to get something done fast, so this really will be a test for me to see if I can sew a little slower, and make things a little richer. 

For patterns, I'm going to try to work on getting a good fit, so I'm looking at quite a few Palmer Pletsch and Sandra Betzina patterns that address fit issues.  However, my first venture is Butterick 6066.  This is one of their Lifestyle Wardrobe patterns, that includes three items- pants, top and dress.

 

What really sold me on this pattern was the separate pattern pieces for different cup sizes for the top/dress.   I made the 16 with the D cup pieces, and added 2" to the length.

The dress could be made with or without the armhole bands and peplum.  My daughter had a well worn burgundy leather jacket that got ripped.  I took it apart, and decided to use pieces of it for the armhole bands.  I like the rustic texture that they add.

I went for the peplum too.   It is just a partial peplum that tucks into the waist seam.  My fabric is a raw silk.  It has a rough, linen like texture to it, not what most people would describe as "silky". I washed a little square of it, and the washing removed the sheen and shrunk it quite a bit.  I liked the sheen, so I decided to skip the washing, and will have dry clean this dress.  

The back doesn't call for an exposed zipper, but the only zipper that I had in this color was a brass jacket zipper that was just too bulky to be put underneath. I've never done an exposed zipper like this before.  The biggest question that I had was how to apply it with the lining.  I ended up sewing the lining and outer fabric together on each side, then hand basting the opening closed.  This way, all raw edges would be hidden.   I like the extra interest that it gives to the back, and will probably try this again.

The dress is fully lined.  Here is what it looks like on the inside!
I don't usually like to line things, but I think that it will help prevent wrinkling, and since this will be a dry clean only dress, may keep the perspiration away from the silk.

I would have liked pockets. I think inseam pockets would be fine, even with the peplum version.

I'm accessorizing it with a belt from the Limited, a Fossil necklace and Earth shoes.

What about you?  Have you started thinking about Fall sewing yet?

 I think it is my favorite season to sew for, so I'm probably thinking about it year round.

Happy Sewing!

Ann