New Look 6184 -- China Dress

I have been on something of a creative hiatus since early June, but my daughter has not.  On the contrary, she has been working hard on some beautiful projects.  This dress is the first one:

I titled this the "China Dress" because the fabric is reminiscent of blue china to me.  It is a gorgeous cotton with subtle metallic highlights (like gold or silver leaf on china:) purchased from Hobby Lobby.

It feels as pretty as it looks

For her pattern she chose New Look 6184 view B and made an unaltered size 10.  Features include pleats at the neck, darts at the waistline, and a circle skirt made of several panels sewn together.  She tried adding a white belt and bow out of satin (per view B), but it made the dress feel too little-girly and took away from its effect, so she left it off.

The dress is not lined.  The neckline is finished with a facing, and the armholes are finished with bias tape, which makes the inside tidy.  She did finish all other seams by sewing a line in each seam allowance and then pinking the edges.

It closes with a lapped zipper at the back.

She didn't add any to the length (she is 5'9" for reference), so there was not much room to turn up a hem.  A circle skirt should have a very narrow hem anyway, so we used hem tape sewn to the edge and turned up.  I think that also added a little weight and helped the hem to hold its shape.

As sometimes happens, a new dress necessitates new shoes and purse:), but thankfully we found both quickly and very reasonably.

I love the retro feel of this, and the fit is spot-on.  Truly it looks lovely on her. As I did not make this dress myself I cannot offer my opinion, but my daughter says that this pattern is quite easy and not hard to understand at all.  I will let her results speak for themselves.