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Hello! today’s post is a review of the 6843 Skirt pattern by New Look.I chose to make pattern A. I’ve been making this for the past few days and it’s turned out really well and I couldn’t wait to share it with you.

This is the first commercial pattern I have ever used. All of the things I have made in the past have either been made without a pattern, with a basic self-drafted pattern or with an independent pattern with lots of  clear instructions. From what I have heard, commercial patterns have a reputation for being quite vague and confusing for beginners. I would be inclined to agree, but a quick bit of research online or in a sewing book I was never stuck for long and the skirt turned out really well.

I wanted to use this pattern to review the skirt part of Linda Lee’s solo fitting class on Craftsy. I followed all of her instructions to measure myself and compare my measurements to the pattern, and then when I made my fitting tiole, it fit perfectly. This was great really but it meant I couldn’t review the class because I didn’t need to adjust anything. The review will probably be up soon, it just depends on how lucky I am with trousers fitting. I did alter one thing on the pattern however, I prefer my skirts really short (because I’m really short too) so I cut about 15cm off the length. I did this my just freehanding a new line at where I wanted to shorten it too. Here are some pictures of the original pattern and the new pattern I made.

Like I said earlier, I did find the instructions a little vague. I have quite a large collection of vintage craft/ sewing books, and there was one, in particular, I found to be extremely helpful in figuring out what to do. I picked up the Readers Digest Complete Guide to Sewing years ago for £1 in a car boot sale and I honestly am so grateful that I did. I was completely lost about how to attach the waistband, and this book really did save me. A small warning, It’s really big and super intimidating but the amount of information packed inside is crazy.

My only real complaint of this skirt is that it says on the front that takes 1 hour. That’s just not true. The sewing of the skirt goes along very quickly, but you have to slipstitch the entire waistband in place. I don’t know maybe I’m just crap at hand sewing, but i’d say that took me at 45 minutes alone. Don’t get me wrong though, its a simple enough pattern as long as you have other resources to help you. Easy enough for a beginner like me anyway. I love how it turned out, I’m going to make another one in black this week. I’d also like to make version C of this pattern in black too. It’s such a wearable and versatile pattern, definitely worth adding to your collection.