Burda of the month of April: 4/2012 skirt #122

Monday 16 July 2012
I'm still chugging away with my Burda challenge: not only have I finished April's garment, I've nearly finished the one from May and have traced out the one from June too.  I may be able to stick with this self imposed challenge after all.....

The skirt I made from the April issue (4/2012 #122) was easy, but a little boring.  There were a few nice patterns in this issue, but none really fit with my current stay at home lifestyle so I went with this simple A-line skirt pattern with somewhat bizarre darts:



I couldn't figure out the purpose of those darts at all.  They are horizontal darts coming in from he side seam like a bust dart, except no one that I know has a bosom so low hanging that they require darts for their bosom at hip level! But I had nothing really to lose except a bit of fabric, so I decided to make the skirt as per the pattern to see what Burda was trying to achieve.

And frankly, I still don't see the purpose of those darts.  The skirt as made was way too loose at the waist (to be expected since the waistband was not pinched in) and the front stuck out where those darts ended.  So in the end to make the skirt work I also inserted two vertical darts in the front and back at the waistline, but since I was too lazy to remove those horizontal darts there is a bit of fabric bulging there at the dart point still but I can live with it.  Hopefully in a few months time I'll have lost the last of my baby weight and this skirt will no longer fit anyway, so I'm not stressing about getting a perfect fit.

I made the skirt from a deep plum coloured fine wale corduroy I bought at the beginning of the year on sale at Spotlight, which is a beautiful colour and I was smart enough to cut all the pieces with the nap in the correct direction (phew!).  And here is the finished product, rugged up for a sunny winter day with tights and a woollen roll neck jumper:






































Funnily enough all the colour combinations I put together for the red pants a few posts ago also work for this colour too.  I even found a short beige trenchcoat in the back of my wardrobe that goes with it as well, and is just right to be smart casual but not overdressed:


So in review, I cannot recommend this pattern at all - there are far better designed a-line skirt patterns out there, and no fabric deserves a fate like this! 

17 comments:

  1. Very casually glamorous.

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  2. Weird darts, but your fabric is such a pretty color. The skirt looks great and the outfit is really cute!

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  3. Wierd darts aside - the skirt looks lovely. Such a pretty colour!

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  4. I have noticed that my husbands King Gee shorts have horizontal darts at the back, radiating from the CB seam...and they fit him very well. I thought that they must be good for people with sway backs, which he has, as they take up some of the fabric pooling at the back.

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  5. Maybe when the skirt gets too big for you, you can recut it into a skirt for Anna.

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  6. I wondered about those darts, too. It's a nice skirt, though and the colour suits you.

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  7. As Carol says... the color does suit you... I've always liked cord fabric... to bad you couldn't just add several darts here and there from the waist. Wear it for a while... then when you loose the weight you want... make it into something for Anna. It's a win-win!

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  8. It looks really nice and comfy on though. Nice work on the winter skirt. I wish I had a few. Can you recommend any skirt patterns? I find that some are too plain.

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  9. I know we're in different hemispheres and all, but I had a hot flash when I saw you in sweater, corduroy, and tights! It's 100 degrees + here in St. Louis, Missouri USA. But your outfit is very cute and well made!

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  10. You're better than I am at finding hidden treasures at Spotlight. The skirt looks well on you despite misgivings about the pattern.

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  11. I love the darts! Their purpose is the same as the regular darts that normally come from the waist edge: shaping. The pattern designer just moved the darts from the waist to the hips.

    I love the rich color you chose.

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  12. Hello Kristy,

    Thank you for the Burda magazine. It has arrived safely and has already given me much enjoyment. I am sorry to have to say thank you by a blog comment, but my email has collapsed and it is taking longer to re-instate than is reasonable. It's already been too long to let you know how much I appreciate the magazine.

    And I do love the skirt, and your resolve to sew something from each magazine. I thought I might follow your example and try top 128.

    Antonia

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  13. Hi
    Good way of describing this. Good to see that some people really write good content nowadays!
    With Best Wishes
    bedroom | sofa | kitchen | bathroom | living room

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  14. Too bad about the skirt--I thought they might be interesting rotated darts. But I guess you can really only rotate darts in a bodice. The outfit looks smart, at any rate.

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  15. Wow, do none of you have the protruding abdomen for which those darts would be fabulous? My body is built such that it's exactly the dart I need ... or maybe both vertical and horizontal? I have a 10 inch diff between waist (30)and hips (40), but my high hip includes some abdomen. What I have mostly done is shortened vertical darts or just increase the circumference, but I would love to try this. Does this make sense to anyone else out there?

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  16. Oh! Burda of the month.... that is an inspired idea, mind if i tag along and try it myself?

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