Burda Style For people who sew

Description

This is the thing I am most proud of making. I made this dress to wear to my brother’s wedding. The fabric is vintage polyester, circa about 1960, maybe a year or two earlier, with brocade-style print and a satin finish. The dress is fully lined with seafoam green polypop (much softer and more breathable than normal linings, and doesn’t stick or ride). The invisible zipper at the back was hand sewn, as were all facings and the sleeves. I also attached the lining to the shell at the hem, so that there would be no visible stitching. This took a bit of thought in terms of construction as the pattern is not normally lined, but was worth it in the end for the clean lines and unmarked fabric.

The dress was made using the project runway pattern, simplicity 2444, although adjusted at the back to be like butterick B5605, a rereleased retro 1956 pattern that I unfortunately couldn’t find in Australia. Although I actually really like the diagonal bust darts and soft diagonal pleating on the simplicity pattern, which does have quite a retro feel.

To just explain the project name, which probably seems strange for an outfit for a wedding. Sadly, my uncle died unexpectedly a week before my brother’s wedding, and the funeral was held the day before, so it was a day of very mixed emotions. I felt the title reflected the different thoughts going on in my head on the day, and once it came into my head I couldn’t name it anything else.

The metal butterfly belt is vintage, circa around the 1960s, and sits at my natural waist and right where the skirt joins the bodice.

Material Notes

vintage polyester
polypop

Difficulty

Intermediate

Categories

Season

Fall

For

Women

Garment Type

Dress

Style

Evening Wear, Romantic, Vintage

Material

Cotton, Polyester, Satin