Spot the difference: Burda 3/2009 #113

When I bought those fabrics a few weeks back from Tessuti I justified it to myself on the basis that I would sew them soonish. I'm trying to sew some smart but casual summer clothes, what I'm jokingly referring to as my 'resort collection', and the striped jersey paired with a simple dress style was a perfect match:

I used Burda 3/2009 #113, which is a very simple straight dress that has no darts or excessive seams to distract from the stripes, but made into a better dress by the  waistband (which I made with an elastic casing instead of a drawstring):

I have used this pattern before, but I'll forgive you if you don't remember it because it was quite a while ago, and I looked quite different at the time. Very different, actually. Can you spot the differences?

That photo was from a post when I was about 6 months pregnant with Toby - I don't remember feeling so big at the time but now that I look at that photo I think whoa! No wonder he was such a big baby when he was born.

Anyway for the maternity version I raised that elasticised waistband to the empire line so that it would sit above the bump, and added extra width to the front of the dress to go around that ginormous bump. It was a fantastic maternity dress too, very comfortable to wear on warm summer days. For this normal version I made the waistband more or less at the waist - I placed it where those black stripes are so that the stitching would be more invisible:

It sits a bit low but instead it makes the top get a bit of a blousy look, especially at the back, which I don't mind at all.

The other changes I made were to raise the neckline from a V-neck to bateau neckline, mainly because I prefer that look better and also because I had problems getting the facing for the V-neck to sit properly last time. I cut it a little too wide and my bra straps were showing, so I added a narrow band instead of turning under the edges or making a facing. It seems my Achilles heel is sewing on neckbands in knits, because this one is also a little too wide because it sticks out a bit at the shoulders, but I overlocked it on so it's staying on!

I also added some bands to the sleeve edge with the stripes running in the opposite direction, purely for looks. The technical drawing for this pattern makes it look like this pattern is a sleeveless dress, but the sleeves actually extend quite far off the shoulder, and adding the bands makes this seem like a dress with sleeves. I managed to achieve a pretty good chevron effect at the shoulders:

And you'll have to excuse the smug look on my face in the photo below, but I'm heartily gloating internally about exactly matching the stripes along the side seams:

Unfortunately this pattern doesn't seem to be available for download from the Burdastyle website, but if you happen to have this magazine I can recommend this pattern - it was really quick to sew, very easy and is a nice casual and uncomplicated dress. The stripe jersey fabric (Jade Green Black boardwalk jersey) from Tessuti was also a dream to sew with, the edges didn't curl like some annoying knits do, it pressed beautifully and the seams didn't get wavy at all even though I had run out of fusible interfacing that I normally need to stabilise them. And the fabric wore really well - I took these photos in the afternoon after wearing the dress all day and there are hardly any wrinkles.

Overall I'm really happy with this dress, it's a perfect Christmas day dress I think - light and breezy enough for a day that's bound to be really hot, and an elasticised waistband to cater for too much food!