Burda 4/2013 #109 dress: bright and bold (and done!)

On the last day of April I've managed to finish my April Burda garment - nothing works like a deadline for motivation!  I did procrastinate this issue because frankly nothing really stood out in the April issue, and from what I can see the May issue is just as bad.

When I was cleaning out the purple shelf of my fabric stash a little while ago, I came across a vibrant fuchsia silk with a black floral print given to me from my husband's aunt quite a few years ago when she was downsizing from her large family home to an apartment.  It wasn't a very big piece, only 90cm and about 1.5m long so I was thinking perhaps another New Look 6000 dress because that can be squeezed out of a small piece of fabric, but instead I chose to make the simple shift dress from the April issue, #109A:

source: burdastyle

This dress is a little different to my usual style, since it's borderline shapeless sack (despite how fitted the model's dress looks in the photo) and I did fight a strong urge to put some vertical darts in the front and back to provide some more shape.  But I am pleasantly surprised at how it looks on - it seems to be still quite flattering without being skin tight.  At least from the front that is, because the side profile view is very potato sack like:

Wearing a belt with it though doesn't improve the look - the fabric is a bit stiff and there is a little too much of it to cinch it in properly, and it just looks wrong:

I made a few small changes to the construction - I fully lined the dress using the sleeveless bodice lining method so thoroughly explained by Trena in her tutorial, instead of using bias binding around the armholes and an outside facing at the neckline.  I also moved the zipper from the side to the centre back purely because I didn't have enough fabric to cut the back piece on the fold, and I don't particularly like side zips anyway.  I did keep the keyhole opening above the zipper at the centre back just as a design feature:

I'm not quite loving the armholes though - the shoulder seams are very narrow and I really need to sew on some bra strap holders to stop my bra straps peeking out.  But I'm not sure it's so flattering or elegant to have that much of the armpit or that fleshy bit in the armpit fold on display:

So for that reason I'm probably unlikely to make this dress again, but I'll definitely be wearing this one I've made.  I can envisage it with some black opaque tights and some really high heels to wear during our coming winter.  And I'm extremely happy this fabric has made it out of the stash and into my wardrobe.

Speaking of the stash, I still haven't finished cleaning it up yet but I am very happy to say that I haven't added to it at all since January.  Not one bit! I haven't deliberately set out on a fabric ban, but I've just found so much great stuff in the stash that the next 10 billion projects I've already planned out from fabric I already own, and nothing has really caught my eye while I've been out and about lately.