Burda of the month: 8/2012 #133 dress

So glad this dress is finished.  Ever been partway through a project thinking there is a better way to do this, and wondering why didn't the pattern designer do things the easy way? The answer being that this is a Burda pattern and they love to do things the hard way.... 

I found it hard to pick a project for the August issue challenge, not because there wasn't anything decent but because there were too many projects that caught my eye - for change.  There is a lovely fitted, pleated neck dress with shoulder detail (Trena aka the Slapdash Sewist made an awesome version of here), a fitted jacket with interesting seam lines, and of course the cover peplum top.  But since we're coming into summer around these parts I wanted to make a light and airy sundress, so I chose to make the full skirted dress, #133:

Instead of the front bodice having two waist darts and two bust darts (ie the simplest way), the pattern consists of two side bodice inset pieces that get sewn to the main front bodice piece (the more fiddly way to achieve the same shaping in my opinion).  Getting that triangular meeting point sewn in without puckers took several tries and sorely tested my patience, although I managed to get the lining done perfectly first try.  Of course.  For anyone else attempting this pattern, The Sewing Princess who also made a lovely version recommended Paco Peralto's tutorial for doing the bust point - this should help stop a few grey hairs and/or swear words! Thanks for the tip Silvia.

The magazine suggests a wool crepe, and whilst that is my favourite fabric I chose to make my dress in a crisp cotton from the stash that I picked up in an opshop a while ago.  It is a rather bright mustard, black and white print which is not my usual style, but I think it looks rather snazzy:

And look, I even managed to match up the print across the back perfectly, and avoided the dreaded 'bullseye' effect on the front too.

I made a number of changes to the pattern, after doing a pin fit with the pattern pieces (a benefit of tracing onto interfacing instead of paper):

• lowered the neckline by two centimetres at the front because it sat a little too high on my throat and felt constrictive.  This also made the neckline more into a bateau style, which is my favourite style;
• shortened the skirt by 10cm, because it would have hit my mid calf otherwise which is a difficult length to wear;
• lengthened the bodice by 5cm because it felt too high waisted (what can I say - I'm a child of the 90s when low slung everything was how it was done).  Although looking at the photos it probably would have been more flattering to have it finish at my natural waist;
• moved the side zip to a centre back zip, just because I don't like the feeling of the zipper digging into my fleshy underarm area.  This meant I could get rid of the side seams on the skirt (yay less pattern matching to do!) and just have one long piece with a centre back seam since I cut this on the lengthwise grain.  It also meant I could line the bodice using the sleeveless dress method (neck and arm seams first, side seams last) which neatly enclosed the cap sleeves; and
• made pleats for the skirt instead of gathering because gathering does my head in and plus pleats sit a little flatter than gathering so it's less bulky at the waistine.  

The skirt is wide enough to give some volume without looking too costumey or being a risk on a windy day.  It's even just wide enough to do a little twirl - wonder where my daughter gets that fascination from?

I wore this out shopping today with a narrow black belt which defined the waistline well, but it kept sliding upwards so I may sew some belt loops on the waist seam to stop that happening since I like it better with a belt. 

I did also wear this with some black high heel sandals, but annoyingly the strap broke on one of them whilst I was out shopping and I had to clomp around which is not a good look but at least now I have a legitimate reason to go shoe shopping - replacement shoes barely count in the shoe shopping stakes! And since it's been a bit chilly these last few days I wore this out with a cropped black jacket, which almost makes this look like a skirt + top combo and a double duty outfit is always a good thing.

Overall I think this is a good pattern, if somewhat fiddly.  I didn't look at the Burda instructions so I don't know if they were any good but I doubt it.  However I don't think I will make this again purely because I have so many other patterns in this same style that are easier to sew - why make things harder on yourself?

The too late for school photos dress: Simplicity 2907

Thank you all for your suggestions and helpful comments on the fit issues of the green dress - I knew that I'd get some great suggestions on how to fix it.  I agree that the hemline could be raised, in fact I haven't even hemmed the dress, only lazily overlocked the bottom and left it at that so I can easily raise it from dowdy to knockout (ha ha).  I will also try taking in the centre front dress panel too, in order to get a snugger fit across the midriff below the bust, although that is going to take some serious unpicking first and I despise unpicking stitches on knit fabrics.  So stay tuned......  Oh yeah, and thanks Caroline for pointing out the bullseye on the right hand side - I can't believe I didn't place the print better! Oh well, nothing too exciting to see there these days because as Summer Flies pointed out those maternity bras give horrendous shape.

My latest finished project is a dress for Anna who got quite cranky that I had made myself a dress and am halfway through another for me (how dare I!) with nothing on the cutting table for her, so I let her pick some fabric and a pattern out of the stash.  Also with her school photos being done last week I wanted her to have a new handmade dress to wear as I have made for her for the last two years.  Unfortunately I got the dates wrong, I was a day too late and the seamstresses daughter wore a RTW dress for school photos!

Anna chose Simplicity 2907, a drop waisted shirt dress with a full skirt which I made from some cotton poplin bought from Spotlight at some sale or other last year.

The sleeve has a short piece of elastic sewn on to give it some fullness without having a puffy sleeve cap, which is a nice touch.  I left off the two breast pockets because I didn't think they would be noticeable with this fabric anyway.  Overall, I think this dress looks cute and it was easy to sew but seems rather unpractical. For little ones that sit cross legged on the ground and climb, run, skip and do the usual three year old type activities it seems a bit restrictive to have the flared part of the dress start below the hips. Mind you what would I know - it doesn't stop the twirliness of the dress, which is paramount of course!

So now hopefully I can get on with my own dress without too much complaining from my little fashion obsessive.  I'm halfway through my August Burda challenge garment, and since the October issue arrived at my place yesterday I need to get moving on it.  Although I suspect nothing will stop this little once from expecting too much - she seems to think I can just walk in my sewing room and walk straight out with something for her!

New Look 6429 - why do I do this to myself?

Ever worked through a project with some (or lots) of doubts, and get to the end and think why did I make this?  I don't do it often - sure there's lots of time I finish making something and wonder what I was thinking when I see the finished garment on me, but I usually start out thinking it's a great idea.  My latest project however gave me misgivings from the start, but I ignored my inner voice of reason due t my overwhelming desire to make a new dress.  Of course I should have listened to myself, because now I'm finished I'm a bit ho hum about it....

And I should have known better too, because my latest dress is one I've made twice before a long time ago and didn't like how it turned out.  In fact the only time I liked how these two dresses looked was when I was pregnant - since I'm not pregnant anymore that should have been a major hint to me. I made New Look 6429 which is a faux wrap dress with a full skirt:

and I used a green and blue floral knit that I purchased only a few short months ago to make this:

I chose this dress because I knew it would be functional as a nursing friendly dress. To make sure the neckline would stretch far enough to pull it down for access I sewed some clear elastic around the neckline instead of iron on stabiliser which is what I usually do for knits.  Doing this also had the added advantage of hugging the neckline in to my chest so that nothing untoward is on display.

Loads of people have positively reviewed this pattern (which now seems to be OOP), but I just find it rather frumpy on me.  Perhaps it's because I raised the neckline, or it's just because I like structured dresses in woven fabrics that feel like they are holding me in, but this is the main issue I have with this dress:

The side profile is horrible!  Those gathers across the stomach area under the bust that other ladies who have made this dress seem to love just look poufy on me making my mummy tummy look worse than it is.  It looks ok from the back though, with the skirt falling in nice ripples:

It is simple and easy to make, and took hardly any time at all which are not good reasons to make something but at least are a consolation prize when things don't turn out as well as you want.  But since this dress works and is functional, and I always seem to have a baby hanging off my hip which distracts from how the dress looks on me anyway I've still worn this a few times in the last week.  So it's not a complete failure I guess!

OMG! I bought some clothes.....

When people find out that I sew my own clothes, most will say something along the lines of being lucky to be able to make exactly what I want, when I want and not be restricted to what is available in the stores.  To a certain extent that is true - I could sew a summer dress in the depths of winter if I wanted and ignore passing trends for the style I favour.

But I don't think it's completely possible to make exactly what I want all of the time.  The clothes we make are limited by fabric availability, time to sew and the necessary skills in some circumstances.  For this reason I don't ever see my wardrobe being completely self made as some bloggers aspire to, and I am quite happy to clothes shop sometimes.  I've never really had a problem finding clothes I like, or clothes that fit - my real problem is that I can be a bit stingy and am quite picky in terms of quality of fabric and production!

I've been loving the soft blazer look that's been around for a while, and have had on my to do list a blazer made from a ponti knit in an emerald or kelly green but hadn't really been able to find a fabric in the colour and weight I wanted.  And then we recently had a weekend away with husband's work to a golf and spa resort (yes I managed to slip in a facial! bliss....)  so I needed wanted something new to wear, but certainly didn't have the time to make anything.

So when I spied a nicely made, ponti blazer in a marle grey colour in Katies I thought it would look very smart casual teamed with some dark denim jeans and a simple top.  I very nearly bought the grey too, until I remembered that I'm trying to incorporate more colour and less grey into my wardrobe - instead I bought a coral colour:

I'm so glad I did get the coral instead of the grey, I think the coral colour suits me nicely and I just love this jacket.  Because it's a knit fabric it has some stretch and is comfortable to wear, and putting a jacket on instead of a cardigan or sweater just seems to give a simple outfit a real lift.  So while I do still plan to make a jacket when the right fabric comes along, I'm happy to have purchased this.  And I even paid full price too!

The other garment I bought this week were a pair of red jeans to replace the red pants I made last month as part of my Burda challenge.  As much as I loved the fit of those red pants, the fabric I used had a bit of stretch but no recovery and after wearing them for a few hours they would stretch out so much that they were almost falling down.  Even if I did put belt loops on to keep them up, they look so saggy baggy and unflattering that they are unwearable.  Again I could have made another pair, except that I haven't found any red fabric in the right colour or weight but when I found a pair that fit me surprisingly well and were made of decent fabric in Big W of all places for the princely sum of $18 I didn't hesitate to buy them.  So now I can make the most of this trend while it lasts.....

Enough about my clothes shopping - this is a sewing blog after all and not a fashion blog.  Have you all seen the petition started by the Sewing Princess to urge the powers that be to improve the Burda magazine? I definitely agree with the points Silvia has made - their patterns have become repetitive in the 5 years I've been subscribing, the instructions have always been *ahem* challenging, and some of the crazy simple things they provide a pattern for are just silly.  I wouldn't mind fewer patterns if they were all really good patterns and also if it meant the tracing sheets were less complicated (my eyesight is bad enough as it is!).  So if you're of the same opinion, pop on over and sign the online petition.

Princess Red Riding Hood

No I haven't got my fairytales mixed up - "Princess" Red Riding Hood is the compromise reached with a very strong willed 3.5 year old!  I don't know if this is a worldwide thing, but here in Australia there is an annual Book Week, celebrating reading and books, and practically every school (and daycare centres it turns out) has a Book Week parade where the kids dress up as their favourite book character.  I have fond memories of the costumes I wore when I was kid as my parents were very creative, and as an overly crafty mummy with skills and resources I've been itching to get into the costume thing!

However Anna's favourite book is called "Mutt Dog", about a stray dog that gets kicked out of various places before finding its forever home with a family in the country.  Anna delights in yelling out "go away you mutt dog" at the top of her lungs at the appropriate points in the story, but I couldn't see any costume possibilities in that book! Luckily we've also been reading a beautiful pop up version of Little Red Riding Hood, so she agreed to go as Little Red Riding Hood for her book week parade at her daycare.

I found an easy pattern and tutorial over at Fleeefun.com and using a mystery tube knit that had been in my stash for ages that was both the right shade of a deep red and a soft fluffy feel almost like minky, this is what I came up with:

I lined the hood bit only with a cherry print cotton voile, and used a big red ribbon tie at the neckline.  This was so simple to make, seriously just a few seams and probably an hour's worth of sewing at most.    I had been thinking of making a little gingham apron to wear over a dress to complete the look, and was looking around for a basket for her to carry when Little Miss Three arrived home from daycare the night before the parade and said she now wanted to go as a princess like all the other girls, and she wanted to wear a frilly pink dress I bought from an op shop a while ago.  A discussion about standing out from the crowd, and being a leader not a follower held no sway with a 3 year old who has princess fever, so I pretty annoyed.  Threats of never sewing her anything ever again didn't work (she knew I wouldn't follow through on that one!).

Luckily in the morning before daycare her dad mediated a compromise, and thus Princess Red Riding Hood was created:

Ahhh kids, it's a good thing you love them because they can be ungracious little mites sometimes!

Burda of the month: 7/2012 #116

Thanks for all your lovely comments on the jacket in the last post: I was a bit hesitant about wearing it out but you've all persuaded me otherwise.  Although I do suspect that all of you lovely ladies subscribe to the if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all school of thought 'cos I don't often get critical or horrible comments!

Angela - I once did a whole post (here) on tracing paper for use with the Burda mags, and the comments to that post are really helpful in finding good sources of tracing materials.  I've since changed from rolls of paper to rolls of cheap, thin interfacing for tracing - the patterns are bulky when folded up in an envelope but the pattern is more durable, doesn't always need to be pinned to the fabric because often the fabric grabs the interfacing and it doesn't shift when cutting, and best of all it's usually cheaper than tracing paper too!

Julie (ReadyThreadSew) - if I hadn't been scouring this issue to make something for the sake of my challenge (which I'm doing thanks to you!) I probably would have overlooked this pattern too.  I'm usually a sheep when it comes to making a pattern, rather than a pioneer but I was pleased to see that I was sort of on trend in making a bomber jacket when I saw that bomber jackets (albeit with less crazy collars than mine) are an 'item of the season' according to the September issue of Madison:

The July Burda issue was a bit of a blah issue for me, and again I found it rather difficult to choose something to sew.  It was full of drop waisted dresses, shapeless shirts and tops, and what can best be described as a walking sandwich board (7/2012 #118):

The two best patterns in this issue IMHO are the two plus sized dresses, but I have neither the patience nor the required skills to grade down, so in the end I settled for top 7/2012 #116.  It's not breastfeeding friendly or child friendly since I made it from silk, but I'm hoping one day to venture out sans children and when that day happens I'll be ready!

Looks pretty cute doesn't it? I used a cream coloured silk with tiny little grey circles on it that I had in the stash, with a white polyester layer underneath.  The pattern calls for the inner layer of fabric to be sewn to the outer layer as interlining, but I chose to keep my two layers separate, joined only at the neckline and underarms.  I made the white under layer a little longer so that it would peek out at the sleeves and hem, and instead of binding the edges with self fabric bias I made roll edged hems instead.  The other change I made was to sew a casing at the neckline and insert a narrow elastic instead of gathering the neckline and shoulder seams and binding the edges - I did this because I was too lazy to do the gathering or make the bias!  Plus doing an elasticised neckline meant I also didn't have to do the opening at the back either.

But, and sadly there is a but:

Sadly this top is a major craft fail and is unwearable.  And because I don't have any fabric left I can't repair it either, all I can hope is to remake it into something else because I do like this fabric.

When I finished the top it fitted nicely around the neck, but gaped so widely under my arms that a good view of my bra strap was available.  So I pinned it in a bit at the sides and took in the side seam a few centimetres down each side.

Did I mention that apart from the top stitching for the elastic casing at the neckline I sewed all of the seams for this top on the overlocker, to save doing French seams? Well I did, which made it very quick to sew but it's a rather final way of making something.  And so when I came to take in those side seams along where I had pinned it I just used my overlocker, instead of basting the seam like any sane sewer would do.  And clearly I took in too much along those side seams, because now it is so tight that the top rides up and causes those strain lines you can see in the above photos.  Sigh.

So, lesson learned - less haste, less waste; measure twice, cut once; blah blah blah blah.  I may make this again in another fabric because it is a nice simple top that would look good over jeans for casual wear or even under a suit when I go back to work.  And with the changes I made (apart from the major stuff up of course) it was pretty quick to sew.

But for now onwards to the August project which is traced but not cut out yet.  And the September issue arrived the other day and it's really good - I love their autumn issue!

Burda of the month: 6/2012 #102

I found it quite hard to pick something to make out of the June issue, because none of the patterns either caught my eye or suit my lifestyle at this point in time.  In fact if it weren't for this self imposed challenge I probably wouldn't have made anything at all, so it's good that I am doing this challenge and so far sticking with it!  I originally planned to make this asymmetrical blazer:

which I really like the look of and may one day sew, but it is a little too formal for my current stay at home mum lifestyle, and all the fabrics I had in the stash that I thought would be good for this jacket (linen) just wouldn't withstand all the baby slobber on my shoulder that Toby so lovingly deposits all the time!

So I chose to make this simple bomber style jacket instead, 6/2012 #102:

The magazine suggests a lurex jersey, but I'm not sure I've even seen such a fabric let alone have some in my stash.  But since it is still a little bit cold in our parts, I decided to use this ummmm, how to describe it, "unique" quilted fabric that I've had in the stash for ages that I bought at an opshop.  It's one of those fabrics that I can't quite decide whether it's cute or ugly (it's sometimes a fine line isn't it?) but I think it looks alright made up in this pattern:

I decided to play up the folksy feel of the woodland print by wearing this with a corduroy skirt I made a long time ago and a cream skivvy  - does this have a 70s vibe to it or what?

The pattern is super simple, with very little shaping because I guess a lurex jersey would drape and cling better, but this is a rather thin quilted fabric so it's not too bad.  I did leave off the elastic waistband and cuffs for the simple reason that I didn't want it to puff up any more because the Michelin man is not the look I'm going for. 

My verdict: a casual but smart jacket style that is so quick and easy to sew.  If I make this again I would probably take it in a little at the sides and narrow the sleeves to make it a bit more shapely.  I am thinking about making it in a black and white gingham, with black ribbed cuffs, colour and waistband because a friend of mine has a Gstar jacket just like this that looks awesome.  Although now I think about it, is it a little too Single White Female to copy your friend's clothes so slavishly?

Thanks for all your input to the stripey fabric from the last post - I knew all you ladies would have some great ideas.  BeaJay you're absolutely right that navy is the natural pairing for this fabric, I wouldn't have picked it myself but you obviously have a great eye for colour.  I've decided to go for it and make a dress, mainly because I love dresses and I can still buy more of this fabric if I make the wrong choice so there's nothing to be afraid of.  Besides, I thought if I picked a dress like this:

then I could cut it in half and make two separates anyway, so it's a win win.  But since this isn't a breastfeeding friendly dress nor a Burda dress, I'll add it to my to do list so don't expect to see it anytime soon!