Burda Style For people who sew

Description

I took out the underlayer, as I live in a hot climate and didn’t want to double up on layers unnecessarily. Yoke was done with the All-in-one Facing method on this site (HowTo #93).

You can see lots of photos of the work in progress at http://www.flickr.com/photos/goatsfoot/sets/72157605389253662/ or http://sista_sinistra.livejournal.com/

This is only the second garment I’ve made from a pre-existing pattern. I’m not sure if all the printing out and sticking together of pages saved me all that much time (I was going to go for a slightly different pattern before – one without a separate yoke, and gathers above and below the bust). At least I didn’t pay for it (I notice the site has started charging for it since I downloaded it a couple of weeks ago). I don’t think this dress style particularly suits my body type – I think the pattern is wonderful for petites. I lengthened the hem only as I’m quite tall, but due to scoliosis my torso is quite short for my height. Scoliosis is thankfully not too much of a problem here as most of my hump is below the yoke.

Don’t bother with a zip if you don’t include the underlayer. Even though the yoke is very tight on me, I can get it on and off fine without opening the zip. And the belt pattern included was far too short and skinny for me – I had to remake it. Try increasing the paper pattern by 3cm (for a 5cm wide belt), and doubling the length. Some sew-on interfacing might be useful to use here.

ALSO, DON’T FORGET TO PRESHRINK COTTON! I forgot! (Even if the only cotton in the dress is the fused yoke.)

Another thing about this pattern is that, at least for me, wearing a bra is essential because the breasts are emphasised (I don’t like bras so I won’t wear this dress that often). The dress keeps riding up above the belt, so I have to keep pulling it down (another reason for me to only wear this on special occasions). The bra straps keep showing at the back. I’ve got a very different 100% cotton bug print fabric I’m going to make a much more casual dress out of soon (it’s so damn hot and humid here that sundresses are advantageous to wear).

Material Notes

Cotton voile and lightweight non-woven fusible interfacing for the yoke. Polyester print for body of dress. Some plain weave mediumweight cotton for belt. Invisible zip.

Categories

Credits

Burdastyle