Burda of the Month: 06/2016 #104 the sheath dress in boring grey

I finished my June Burda of the month project last week, but I've left it hanging in my sewing room while I contemplate it. I don't particularly love it, but I'm not sure what I can do to improve it. It probably doesn't help that I have a horrible cold at the moment and everything feels blah, so I think I'll leave it for a little while longer before deciding whether to keep it or donate it.

I made 6/2016 #104, which is an A-line dress with interesting seam lines:

A few lovely versions of this pattern have popped up around the blogosphere - Sew Crafty Chemist made this great belted version, and SunnyGal Studio made this lovely blue button front version. Both of these versions turned out great, without the niggling problems I seem to be having.

So what's wrong with mine? Well firstly the colour (or lack thereof) is an issue - I seem to be falling out of love with grey! There was a time a few years ago when grey was my favourite shade of fabric, but this is so dull that I found it boring to sew with. The fabric is a suiting weight poly-cotton bought on sale from Spotlight quite a few years ago, and it has a nice pattern and drape but it just seems so blah.

The next problem is the fitting - you can see from the back view that there are quite a few wrinkles back there. To be fair I didn't make a muslin, but I can usually fit Burda dresses that have waist seams without needing to alter.

There are quite a few wrinkles and bagginess on the front panels as well, especially around my stomach which looks far from pleasing. It's not as bad in real life as it is in these photos, but it's still not good.

I had originally thought about using piping at all those seams, but I wasn't sure how it would work out at that triangular point at the front. Instead I decided to topstitch with an embroidery thread in triple stitch to make it stand out. My top-stitching is a bit wonky, but I'm finding it impossible to muster up the enthusiasm to unpick it and do it again. I did sew that point carefully to avoid any puckers or bulges, but the puffiness comes from the fabric on either side of those seams.

I topstitched the side panels from front to back to make a v-point on the side seams which I really like the look of, but it seems out of balance because the lower seam doesn't do the same. I have a real thing for symmetry!



 I guess I can always wear this with a colourful scarf to bring some life into it:

or over the top of something like this black wool roll-neck sweater which is weather appropriate but reminds me a little too much of my daughter's school uniform:

Or I just chalk it up to one of those projects that didn't quite turn out as well as expected and move on to the next project!