New Look 6106: The Big Ease

After seeing some great versions of summery a-line skirts made from New Look 6106 on IG in the last few months, I decided to buy a copy of the pattern during a recent pattern sale at Spotlight. For those of you not familiar with this one, it looks like this:

I quite like New Look patterns and have had good outcomes with them in the past. In fact, New Look 6968 is my TNT sheath dress pattern that I've made many times with no problems. So it baffled me when I saw the finished pattern measurements on this pattern:

After having a mini rant about this on IG, it was confirmed that the pattern is a misprint and where it states the finished bust measurements it should actually state hip measurements. But the amount of ease and finished garment measurements is correct though - this skirt has a whopping 19cm/7.5in of ease! I'm currently muslining a New Look pencil skirt pattern which has 5cm of ease and have nearly finished a New Look semi fitted dress (11.5cm of ease at the hips), so clearly there is no consistency and the amount of ease depends on the type of garment, but 19cm is far too excessive. At that much ease the skirt would just slip off the hips? Surely this is a pattern drafting error?

Anyway, after reading many reviews of this pattern and doing some flat pattern measurements I decided to size way way down. My body measurements put me at size 16, but I made a size 10 instead and it fits perfectly. I also added 5cm length to view A because it's a bit too short for my liking and I didn't want to sew on the band of view B.

I really like those cut in pockets at the front, they are far more flattering and streamlined to my figure than side seam pockets because I really don't need anymore bulk around my hips. However I don't like the pocket bags loosely flapping around inside and if I make this skirt again I would draft an extension to the pockets so the pocket bags are joined.

I used some contrasting cotton in a bright mustard colour for the pocket lining and waistband facing. It peeks out a little bit at the pockets, but I don't mind as this is meant to be a casual skirt.

I also really like the wide waistband as it sits below my natural waistline and is very comfortable. Looking at the side and back profiles I can see a little fold of fabric just below the waistband which is probably due to my swayback and would be something to change for the next version.

The a-line shape of this skirt is really pronounced, although it's probably exaggerated by my choice of a heavy linen/cotton tweed fabric that has no drape whatsoever. This shape has plenty of room for movement though, so it's a comfortable choice. And the fabric is leftover from a pair of maternity pants I made back 2011 when I was pregnant with Toby, so yay for stash sewing and yay for using up remnants!

I also chose to do a centred zip instead of a lapped zipper application which the pattern suggests or an invisible zip which is what I would usually do, purely because my fabric is quite thick and there would be too much bulk at the waistband seamlines.

It's still school holidays here in Australia, and I've been busy ferrying the kids around from one activity to another. To keep them quiet whilst I was doing a bit of fabric shopping in the Fabric Cave I let them play with my phone, so here's a cheeky photo they took of me doing some serious browsing! I've mentioned the Fabric Cave on here before - it's a volunteer run shop raising funds for Achieve Australia which provide disability support services. The shop is stocked entirely with donated fabric, haberdashery, knitting and crochet wools, patterns, books and magazines so it's unknown what you'll find there on any given day but it's always fun having a dig through the treasures! Plus the ladies (and odd gentleman) that work in there are friendly - they also plied my kids with biscuits while we were there.

Of course I purchased some fabric while I was there - 2m of maroon drill, two 2m lengths of white lawn (already used for lining) and two 1.5m stripe cotton shirting pieces all for the grand total of $21.

My verdict - I like this pattern once the fitting issues are sorted out. You just need to be aware of the excessive ease and choose a size accordingly, but after that it's a pretty simple skirt to sew. I also think the pattern instructions with this pattern are pretty good - it illustrates how to do a lapped zipper quite clearly so this pattern would be great for a beginner (but only if they pick the right size!).