Procrastination project: New Look 6144 plaid dress

I may appear to be quite efficient and productive, popping up here on a regular basis to show off my latest finished creation as well as looking after two small children, a rambunctious dog, a part time job and all that is involved in looking after a house. Plus a husband to bear with too. But the reality is if I didn't procrastinate so much I could achieve so much more, but sadly when I get the slightest bit bored or frustrated I actively start looking for distractions and I really need rock solid deadlines to get back on track. You should see how clean my desk is at work.....

And so it is with this latest dress I've made. I should be sewing my August Burda project since it's coming close to the end of August, I've traced the pattern pieces out and pre-treated the fabric, but the thought of pinning and cutting out the fabric, lining and interfacing and then going onto block fusing all those pieces is just too much. So instead I decided to make a quick dress instead. Except it didn't turn out all that quick, and I got frustrated with it and procrastinated further by cleaning up my sewing room!

Anyway it's finished now, mostly - after seeing how it looks in photos I realise a few things need fixing that weren't obvious from looking at it in the mirror.  So, the finished dress:

I made New Look 6144, view B without a belt, from some teal green plaid cotton that I've had in the stash for ages and have been wanting to use for a while. Unfortunately I should have waited a bit longer to use this fabric because this pattern and this fabric are not the ideal match. I was so careful to match up the plaid on the front and back shoulder seams, the outside sleeve seam (it's a two piece sleeve), the side seams and the back seam. I did a pretty good job too, here's the back:

and the sleeves:

 but look at the front:

I was so concentrating on getting the plaid to match at the shoulder seam that I totally didn't think about what would happen to the plaid with all those angled darts at the front. As you can see those darts totally mess up the yellow line across the front and makes it look quite messy. It was about this point that I got out the vacuum and started to clean......

But I forced myself to finish it (no new UFOs being my mantra these days) and decided just to treat this as a wearable muslin if it looked ok. And mostly it does, except that the lining is peeking out at the neckline - I'll need to press the neckline again and understitch. I also concentrated so much on getting the plaid at the centre back to match (which it does) that I didn't do the top of the neckline very well - one side sits higher than the other so I'll have to resew that.

I also think that overall it's a smidgen too big, which is why the lower darts at the centre front of the skirt are a bit puffy. I cut my usual 8 at the bust, 10 at the waist and 12 at the hips which has worked really well for the other New Look dresses I made recently, but this time not so well. Usually I overfit my dresses to have minimal ease, but on this one I only reduced the ease a little because the fabric is quite thin and I didn't want the fabric to tear or the plaid to become too distorted from stress or pulling at the seams.

This fabric also wrinkles really easily, the wrinkles you can see in the front near the hem are just from kneeling down to set up for this photo shoot, so I'd hate to see what it's like at the end of a long work day. (Oh and please excuse the rather wild and bouffy hair - I took these photos this morning which is a non work day so I didn't straighten my hair.)

It is a lovely pattern though, it just doesn't suit plaids and probably not stripes either. I should have used the other view with the pleat at the neckline instead, but you live and learn. I will make this dress again in a solid colour so I don't drive myself nuts with all that seam matching again!

And now I would like to say that I will be getting on to my August Burda project next, but I've promised Anna a new dress for a birthday party on Sunday morning so I have to deliver that first. Luckily I'll be spending tomorrow at my local ASG group so I may be able to get it finished in amongst all the chatting that goes on at those days!

Finally what do you all think of the new background? It's just some bright fabric from Ikea which I thought was more attractive than my beige lounge and antique chinese wooden screen you normally have to see in the background. But is it too distracting or overwhelming?