A review of New Look 6682 dress sewing pattern

This year I have set myself the goal of trying some more of the ‘big four’ pattern company patterns.  I started sewing with these patterns right at the beginning of my sewing journey but quickly moved onto indie patterns as I felt they held my hand through the sewing process, which was what I needed as a new sewist.  Now I have more sewing experience under my belt I thought it would be a great time to revisit the big four patterns and see how I got on.

I had a browse online and quickly found the first big four pattern I wanted to try: New Look 6682.  I do love a pretty dress pattern and this one looked like it had some really lovely details. 

In this post I will tell you all about how I got on sewing this dress including: fabric choices, sizing, adjustments and how I found the overall sewing process.

The pattern

New Look 6682 is a dress pattern designed for woven fabrics.  The dress has a really nice shape to it: there are gathers at the bodice and a flared skirt with a shaped waist seam. It is secured with an invisible zip at the back.  Two skirt lengths are included in the pattern: below the knee and midi. 

There are two variations for this pattern: variation A has a pleated neckband and long billowy sleeves gathered at the cuffs.  Variation B has a round neckline finished with a facing and has short flowy sleeves.

For my dress I knew I wanted to use variation A as I really liked both the collar and sleeve details on this version.

The pattern does not have a difficulty rating on the pattern envelope as far as I can see.  However, it is definitely not a beginner pattern as it includes an invisible zip, sleeve vents and some other intricate steps.  I would say it is an intermediate sewing pattern.

Fabric

The fabric recommendations for this pattern include cotton lawn, crepe de chine, silky types, shirting and voile.  I think the effect would be very different depending on fabric choice: a silky type fabric would give a floaty, romantic and subtle shape to the dress; a shirting or other more structured woven would give more volume to the sleeves and more of a structured shape to the skirt.

Quite a bit of fabric is required for this dress due to the volume of the skirt and sleeve pieces: the smallest pattern size requires 2.6m of 150cm wide fabric for variation A.

For my first version of this dress, I did not want to spend too much money on the fabric as I wanted to use the opportunity to test the pattern and the fitting.  I knew I wanted a lightweight fabric with drape, to give a soft effect to the dress. So I decided on a reasonably priced viscose challis from Minerva (link here).  Minerva has a whole range of colours available in this plain viscose challis.  I had sewed with this fabric before on another project and knew it was good quality and would be a great fit for this pattern. I chose the black colour.

Sizing

The pattern includes seven sizes from size UK 6 – 18.  The smallest size is designed for bust 30.5, waist 23, hips 32.5 inches.  The largest size is designed for bust 40, waist 32, hips 42 inches. 

When looking at the sizing chart for this pattern, my measurements (32:26:36) put me at a size 8/10 bust and size 12 waist and hips. 

Before deciding on a final size, I researched online about the sizing for New Look patterns.  My research showed that it was worthwhile to bear in mind the finished garment measurements.  The finished garment measurements for the bust and hips are both available on the pattern envelope.  The finished garment measurements showed that were was a significant amount of ease in the bust and hip areas for this pattern.  Based on this, I decided to make a size 6. 

However, I then discovered the waist finished garment measurement inside the pattern envelope (it was printed on the skirt pattern piece).  This showed that the waist finished garment measurement for size 6 was 26.5 inches, which would give me no ease at the waist at all.  I therefore decided to make a size 6 at the bust and grade out to a size 8 for the waist and hips.

I am really happy with the sizing of my final dress and I think that the fit has come out just right.  If you are interested in this pattern, I would definitely recommend spending some time looking at the finished garment measurements before you select your size.

Sizing adjustments

I made the following adjustments to the pattern in addition to grading between sizes:

1. Bodice length – I lengthened the bodice by ½ inch as this is an adjustment I often need to make on dresses.  In hindsight I think the dress would have been ok without this adjustment but I think the extra length does give the bodice a nice blousy quality.
2. Sleeve length – I lengthened the main sleeve piece by 1 inch –this is another adjustment I often need to make and again it ensured the sleeves had a nice billowy quality to them as the pattern intends.
3. Skirt length – I used the shorter skirt length of variation B.

Sewing process/pattern instructions

As I am used to indie pattern instructions, which are often full of detail, I was a little nervous about how I would find the instructions on this New Look pattern.  But actually I was pleasantly surprised. I found the instructions clear and straightforward to follow and the accompanying pictures were good too. 

This dress does have a lot of details and is definitely a pattern to take your time over when sewing. I took each step of the pattern one by one and the dress came together really nicely.  I found it to be an enjoyable make.  I definitely think having some more sewing experience also helped me tackle this pattern confidently.

One area I would have been grateful for more guidance on is the finishing of seams.  It would be useful if the pattern included information on when to finish seams.  I nearly started to insert the invisible zip at the back of the dress before realizing that I should overlock the back seams first.

I should also note that the instructions are very sparse regarding inserting the invisible zip.  The instructions simply state to insert the zip at the back edges following manufacturer’s instructions and being careful to match waist seams.  In the end I used a tutorial on the Avid Seamstress website for this step – I have linked the tutorial here.

I did make a few adjustments to the sewing process on this pattern and I will include them here:

1. Collar piece – The pattern specifies that the folded collar pattern piece is to be cut on the bias.  I assume this is for shaping and to ensure that the collar piece can be eased gently when attaching to the bodice neckline.  I ended up stitching down each of the folds in the fabric to avoid the collar piece stretching out of shape when attaching to the neckline.  The pattern does state each of the folds should ideally be hand basted down before the collar is attached to the bodice.  However, my fabric was delicate and fluid and I thought it would not hold the shape of the folds when cut on the bias.  So I decided stitching down was the best option for me.  I think the collar folds would possibly hold their shape better with a less fluid fabric, for example a cotton lawn.  I quite like the stitching detail on the collar folds in any case.

• Button loops – The collar and cuffs for this pattern are both designed to be secured by buttons.  The pattern states that you should make thread loops for the buttons.  I decided instead to use the fabric and make rouleau loops.  I really like this feature.

Summary

The New Look 6682 is a really pretty dress pattern with some lovely details.  I would recommend you already have some sewing experience before you try this pattern as there are quite a few intricate details.

I really enjoyed making my version of this dress.  It is really comfortable to wear and I feel quite dressed up in it.  I think it has a bit of cool seventies vibe to it with the high neck and billowing sleeves.  I think it will be a dress I wear out on an evening for a nice meal rather than a day dress.

Using a big four pattern was not as intimidating as I thought it might be and I’m really glad I gave it a go.  It has definitely given me the confidence to try more of the big four patterns going forward.  Watch this space!