Burda of the month: 3/2016 #125 retro dress

I am absolutely killing my Burda challenge this year - three projects made from the magazines in the month of their issue and I like them all (so far, I could be tempting fate by typing this though!). My blogging not so much though, I just can't seem to find the words when I sit down to do a post, but here we go.

Despite this issue being full of bridal clothes and children's holy communion outfits (neither of which I have any use for at the moment), there were a few patterns in this issue I really liked.  For this project I went with 3/2016 #125 which is described as a retro cocktail dress, and is part of the bridal collection as a bridesmaids dress.

Image via Burda Style

I made it less "cocktail party" and more "day dress suitable for work" by making it in a linen/cotton blend I bought last December from the Remnant Warehouse, and I used a piece of cotton sateen for the collar for contrast. The lines are irregular, which I figured meant I could get away with minimal pattern matching!

However, because of my fabric choice those seam lines at the back and the princess seams on the front are barely visible at all. Which is a pity because I really like how the seams on the bodice line up with the pleats on the skirt - I love that sort of symmetry:

The Burda recommended materials are "thick dress material with stand" which I assume means materials with some body. Their version though looks to be made from a draped, shiny fabric with no body given the way it hangs and the collar droops. However my fabric had enough thickness for the skirt to get a fullness about it without being too costume-y:

The skirt has an inverted box pleat at the centre front, and then some deep pleats at either side on the front and the back, so there's quite a lot of material. I've sewn the pleats down for about 10cm from the waistline so it's a trim fit around the waist before flaring out.

I'm not prone to twirling myself, but if that's your thing then this is the pattern for you:

I used a cotton sateen which was interfaced for the collar so that it would stand up, in a plain black colour for a bit of contrast. The collar is literally a long narrow rectangle cut on the straight grain, so it's not designed to curve but to stand up. It does feel like it is gaping wide open (which it is), so it is taking a little bit to get used to when I'm wearing it.

As usual the Burda instructions are hugely confusing and I mostly ignored them for the sake of my sanity. The bodice is intended to be fully lined, and it seems the instructions are suggesting sewing the invisible zip on top of the fabric and lining all the way to the top edge of the collar which would mean the zipper tape is visible. I chose not to line my bodice since my fabric is quite substantial, and I sewed the zipper to the top of the dress and used a hook and eye to keep the collar together instead. The zipper and collar looks messy on the inside, but it's ok from the outside and that's all that counts. I drafted some facings for the sleeve edges which are just hand sewn down - I couldn't just use bias tape because the sleeve edge has a distinctive L shape to it.

The dress looks ok worn without a belt, I just think it looked a little blah without any colour or waist definition:

So overall I really like this pattern, but I do find the bodice to be a little big. I had to grade down from  a size from a size 36 and it still feels roomy which I thought was just my dodgy grading skills (which they are) but I can see from the Burda version that even on the model it looks too big with a bit of gathering across the front. I think it's also drafted a little high waisted which suited me because I usually shorten my bodices by 1.5cm but this one sat just right without any changes. Just a few things to be aware of if you are intending to try this pattern - but otherwise I can highly recommend this pattern.

Thankfully we are having a very warm start to our Autumn, so I'm sure I'll get a few wears from this dress before it's time to get out the winter gear.

Bright green for attention!

A few of my work colleagues know that I sew my own clothes, so I often get comments from them like: "did you make that? Looks great". But it's not often that random strangers ever ask or compliment me on something I'm wearing - I am told by my friends that I posses an excellent resting bitch face, so I guess I don't encourage interaction! But I've worn this outfit twice in the last two weeks and both times some has complimented me on the skirt. I guess I stand out in a sea of sensible clothes maybe?

The skirt fabric is a lightweight wool fabric bought from the Fabric Cave late last year when I was dropping off a donation of fabric. There was almost 3 metres of it for the bargain price of $8, so I have plenty left to make something else. Maybe a matching jacket so I'll have the perfect outfit for next St Patrick's Day.....

The skirt is nothing special, just a simple lined pencil skirt with a kick pleat at the back which I made from an old Vogue Michael Kors wardrobe pattern that is now OOP (1826), from which I've made the shell top pattern many many times. The skirt has no waistband, but I've used cotton tape around the waistband in between the fashion fabric and the lining fabric which is stretched slightly to make the waistband hug my body. I don't find this overly comfortable because I'm used to wearing clothes slung low around the hips, but this method certainly stops a pencil skirt swivelling around whilst walking in it. I have to thank my sewing friend Sharon (this post at her blog Petite and Sewing) for this tip - until she explained it to me I had only used the tape to stop the waistband from stretching out, not for shrinking it slightly.

I don't have anything to report on about the skirt - for an excellent run down on how to make a perfect lined skirt have a look at this three part series by Kyle over at Vacuuming the Lawn. She covers everything you need to know. But I do need to proudly show my superb pattern matching at the sides and back:

The top is Burda 8/2015 #120, which was my Burda of the month project in September last year (posted here). At that time I made in a horrible fabric that wrinkled and puckered terribly but despite that I really liked the pattern. This time it's made from a long term stash resident - a drapey fabric of mysterious composition, most likely 100% polyester with a textured surface finish similar to crepe. 

This fabric didn't press very well, but it does drape beautifully. I finished the edge of the fabric fold  on the front with a rolled edge on my overlocker instead of a narrow edge, which helps it fold nicely. Of course being black you can barely see anything, so you'll have to take my word that it looks just the like pattern above.

I also remembered to make the opening at the back neckline slightly longer than the pattern allows for - it just makes it easier to get it over my head which I'm beginning to think must be bigger than the standard Burda model sized head since this frequently occurs with my Burda projects!

So overall, two simple projects but together they make quite an impact thanks to the fabric. Reviewing my projects so far this year it seems I've had quite a colourful start to this year, must be the crazy heat we're having affecting my fabric choices!

Vintage wing tipped dress in red: Butterick 6473

At the start of spring last year I pulled out a few fabrics that had been sitting in the stash for a while that I really wanted to use and left them on my cutting table, in the hopes that looking at them all the time would prompt me to make something. Well that didn't work because I ended up using any fabrics other than those I had picked out especially to use, and all it meant was that my cutting table was cluttered! But finally I've used one of the fabrics to make this dress:

The fabric is a printed cotton sateen bought from Spotlight a few years ago when their sateen was still quite thick and stretchy. I had originally planned to make a simple sheath dress from New Look 6968 because I've made it several times successfully (here, here and here) but also because this exact fabric appears on the pattern envelope - yes I am way too influenced by the pattern...

But instead I decided to use a vintage that I've had in the stash for a while now. I can't remember quite where it came from but most likely picked up from an op shop. The pattern is undated, but the vintage pattern Wiki places it at 1953:

I have been wanting to make this pattern for a long time but could never quite decide on the right fabric. I don't think I've used the right fabric in this version though, because even though the cotton sateen has the right amount of body and stretch to make it fit really well the busy print hides those special details. I think I will make this again in a solid colour, perhaps with a contrast collar and pocket to make those details stand out.

You can see below that the pocket flap is hardly visible:

But, oh that collar! I do love an oversized, dramatic collar:

I also left off those buttons down the side. It is a key feature of this dress and I think it would look amazing in a solid colour, but the buttons would be completely lost on this dress so I just put in an invisible zip instead:

This dress wasn't that easy to make and it took longer than I expected. While there wasn't any particularly tricky sewing involved, just figuring out the pattern took a lot of concentration. It's one of those very old patterns that have no printed instructions, but rather perforated dots of various sizes that you need to connect and figure out the connections.  And for all my complaints about the brevity of Burda instructions, this pattern is just as bad. One page of instructions, and one page of fabric cutting layouts and then you're on your own to muddle your way through.

The pattern incorporates an extension to the left side of the bodice and the skirt that gets folded under to form a facing for the buttons which I didn't need since I just used an invisible zip. Which meant I had to cut a few inches from the side seams and sew the side seams a few times to get a close fit, but  got there in the end. No swayback puddle of fabric and only a few wrinkles emanating from the armpit which is to be expected with cut on sleeves like these.

The skirt isn't as slim fitting as the pattern illustration suggests, in fact it is rather an a-line shape as you can see in the photo below. However that is a good thing, because there is enough room to walk comfortably in this dress without having to leave a split open along a side seam:

Overall I'm really pleased with this project. Not only did I use a fabric and a pattern that I've been meaning to use for a long time now, but I also got a very cool dress that is perfect for the still very hot summer weather we're having. And in a great coincidence there happens to be a red dress contest running over at Pattern Review that I will enter, if any of you would like to vote for me! 

Burda of the month: 2/2016 #118 raglan sleeve top

Today's post is brought to you by heat wave conditions here in Sydney, a winter-ish issue of Burda and scratchy polyester fabric - in other words I have suffered for the sake of this post. However it was worth it to record the fact that I've made my February Burda of the month project in the month of February - that's 2 out of 2 this year so far, yay for me!

I found this to be another great, with several patterns I liked. I ended up choosing to make 2/2016 #118, a raglan sleeve top with a stand up collar although unfortunately I did not have fabric nearly as cool as the perforated metallic high tech fabric used by Burda:

Image via Burda Style

My fabric is pretty cool in terms of colour though - neon yellow and pink, with sprinkles of blue and orange for good measure. It has a tweed like texture, although it's only a print and not a woven. I recall this fabric popping up on a few Australian bloggers in recent years, including this dress by Top Notch from 2014, so when I spied it on the clearance table at Spotlight recently for the princely sum of $4/m I snapped up a few metres for myself.

The colour may be great, however the feel and texture is not so great. It's polyester/spandex, and it feels a bit like plastic bags woven together - a bit coarse and stiff but with four way stretch. However the stiffness was perfect for this style, as fabric with some body is required to make the collar stand up properly and not collapse. The collar is a straight piece cut on the bias and folded in half. I couldn't add any interfacing because some stretch is needed to ease the collar to the neckline, but luckily this fabric was stiff enough to work without interfacing.

It is quite a boxy shape, and I was tempted to shape it more which would have be easy with all those vertical seam lines but I left it as is instead. I generally make forward shoulder adjustments in all my tops and jackets but I wasn't exactly sure how to do that in a raglan sleeve with a collar like this, and you can see in the photo below that the top pushes to the back a bit and the hem at the front rises:

Because the collar is so wide it doesn't feel like it is pushing against my neck and is comfortable enough to wear. Overall I quite like how this top has turned out. The hem finishes at my high hip and the sleeves just above my elbow, which is perfect for a casual look with skinny pants:

 Overall, another great pattern from Burda. It was very quick and easy to make because it's just a simple raglan top, but I think those seam lines and the stand up collar make it a little bit different. Now if only I could find a fabric like the one used by Burda, I would make another version of this top in a jiffy!

Third time lucky: Vogue 2783 panelled dress

After having Vogue 2783 in my pattern collection for many years unused, I've now made this pattern three times in last few years. I don't know why I left it so long before I used it in the first place, because it really is a great looking dress. It's now OOP, but it is available through some Etsy and Ebay sellers.

The first version I made in 2013 (posted here) is made from a floral cotton sateen with dark blue piping. The second version I made in 2014 (posted here) is from a cotton/linen in a graphic print with white piping, and little cap sleeves. For the third version I chose to keep the cap sleeves but not to use any piping, and instead use contrasting fabrics. All three dresses look quite different don't they?

How funny that since 2013 my hair has gotten shorter and my hemlines have gotten longer!

The fabric I've used in this version is a printed cotton drill I bought late last year from Tessuti, and cotton sateen in black and white bought from The Remnant Warehouse recently (and specifically for this project). I bought two metres of the print cotton drill planning to make an entire dress from it, but I think it looks more striking mixed up in this way. Plus now I have some fabric left over to make something else since this didn't use much - bonus!

After suffering quite a bit of disappointment lately with cotton sateen (wrinkly, sagging out or losing it's dye easily), I have to say that the quality of the cotton sateen from the Remnant Warehouse is great. It's about the same price as that from Spotlight but it's much thicker, hardly wrinkled after a day of wear and didn't lose it's sheen after a wash. I don't know if it will stretch out because this isn't a fitted dress, but I bought several metres of the black intending to make some pants, so I guess I'll find out soon enough!

Construction wise there isn't too much to say - the pattern runs terribly large, but I had already made changes to the pattern from the previous two versions so I was able to sew this up quickly. Instead of piping around the neckline I used bias tape to finish the neckline and armholes, and as you can see in the photo above I used white thread on the white portion and black thread on the black portion for the topstitching - how is that for attention to detail?

The back is pretty much the same as the front in terms of fabric placement. I didn't even attempt to pattern match along the centre back seam, because I figured this print is small and busy enough that it wouldn't be noticeable:

I do like the fit on this dress, but if you are planning to make this pattern just beware you'll have to take it in a lot to get a close fit. Despite my measurements indicating I should make a size 12, I use a size 6 pattern and still have shaved a few centimetres off each pattern piece above the waist. 

I also chose not to make the matching belt, because without a waist seam I don't think it really needs to be worn with a belt. I also left off the bottom band because I would need to significantly shorten the dress and I thought it would interfere with the strong vertical lines of the dress. Keeping it simple I think is more effective with this pattern mixing instead.

So overall, I really like this dress and if you have this pattern I can highly recommend making it. But after three versions, and with so many other dress patterns in my collection I think this one may be the last.

And the winner is.....

Check out the evil stare that the illustrated lady is giving the real life lady on that pattern envelope! Nothing to do with anything, but I thought it was quite funny and worth sharing.

So the winner of the pattern give-away is.....well, the winner is actually me and anyone else who ever thought about irons - so much good advice! Thanks to everyone that pitched in with their experience, it is all very useful. I haven't actually made a decision yet, because I plan to go into the store and actually handle the irons as Jessica Malcolm suggested, instead of just relying on technical data and reviews. I'm still tossing up between the Philips or Tefal though, because the Laurastar irons are a bit out of my budget and I don't think the Rowenta irons or Maytag are sold in Australia. I am leaning towards the Tefal though, because like a few of you I have dropped my current one several times and it is still working.

Also, I love how Sofie M and Heber were having a running conversation in the comments about the iron Heber received from her boyfriend - too funny! And thanks to Melissa Lee for answering the question about which pattern I was referring to when I said there was a modern copy of the 70s wrap skirt pattern - I was trying to be diplomatic and not name any names!

Ok, so on to the pattern giveaway. I separated all the commenters into three groups depending on which (if any pattern) they nominated, and then did a random number generator to pick the winners. The names that came up are:

Simplicity 4930 Sundress Pattern - Tina Briggs
Simplicity 2080 mens swimwear pattern - Jessica Malcolm
Simplicity 7189 skirt pattern - jjuzzy

If you could all email me at KristyLChan@outlook.com with your postal addresses, I'll get them out to you shortly.

A big thanks too to Melissa Zillman who not only very kindly emailed me with advice on the Philips iron but even attached photos of the spluttering marks left on her jeans after ironing - I so hate it when that happen.

And a special mention goes to Mike Dunlap - I think you are my first male commentator ever!

Burda of the month: 1/2016 #120 bright yellow jacket

Thank you to everyone who has left a comment on the last post - I really appreciate all the good advice. Who would have thought that we'd have so much to say about irons?!

I've got my Burda challenge off to a good start this year  - not only have I made a project from the January issue in the actual month of January, but I really love how it has turned out and I used a long term stash resident. All round winner in my books. I made jacket 1/2016 #120 which has turned out like this:

It looks very different from the pattern in the magazine, mainly because Burda has made their version in a fake fur:

image via Burda Style

I've made mine in a thick textured cotton that originally came from my grandmother's stash so it could be many many decades old. But it's such a cheerful colour, and the fabric has a nice thick weight to it so I just knew it would be perfect for a boxy jacket like this.

Except, I don't do boxy very well. I couldn't help myself, I had to shape this jacket by taking in the side seams a little and adding two vertical darts to the back:

There is still a little too much fabric there in the back view, especially around the armscye, which if I had made a muslin version I would have resolved but of course I didn't make one so I'm just going to live with this:

The other change I made was to draft a neck and front facing from the lining pattern. The pattern suggests using a poplin fabric as the inner fabric and lining to the edge, which probably works ok when using a thick fabric like a fake fur.  But I think a tailored jacket made with a jacket weight fabric looks better with self fabric facings because it prevents the lining peeking out and it sits better as well.

I was super short on both lining fabric and the outer fabric for this project. As you can see in the photo above, the sleeve lining is only half the sleeve purely because I didn't have enough yellow lining to make a full sleeve length and nor did I have any other light coloured lining fabric on hand for the sleeves. It's a bit slip shod, but it works and I've tacked it down to the seam allowance so it will stay in place.

I also just managed to eek out the sleeves of the outer fabric by placing the sleeve end on the selvedge of the fabric with no fabric to turn up for the hem. Originally I thought I would just make this a bracelet length sleeve, but it finishes as just the right spot on me so I've left it unhemmed. For the seam allowances of the sleeve I turned the raw edges under and slipstitched them down, so it's quite a neat finish. Again, it's a bit of a dodgy solution but it works!

The pattern calls for a snap to be placed there at the centre front of the jacket. This fabric was too thick to make a covered snap, and nor did I have any big enough in my stash but I did have a hook and bar salvaged from a RTW garment some time ago. This is one of those that instead of sewing on you just push the ends through the fabric and use some pliers to squeeze the ends closed. Except I squeezed a little too hard with my pliers and the bar got a little bent as you can see below! (Ignore the colour of this photo, the yellow turned out all shades wrong in this picture for some reason).

I do like the discreet look of the hook and bar though - it's hardly visible at all when the jacket is worn open, and it looks very polished not having any visible stitches.

As you can see in the photos above, I used some canvas interfacing across the back and part fronts, as well as a lightweight whisper weft iron on interfacing at the top of the sleeve. The thickness of the fabric along with the interfacing has made a beautiful shoulder cap, with no collapsing at all which is a look that I absolutely hate. So happy with how this one turned out:

I've seen lots of collarless jackets with pointed front lapels in the stores recently, including the one below left in Trenery which originally retailed for $299, so I was very happy to see that Burda had included one in the January issue. The yellow colour came from an inspiration image I recently pinned from Table Eight - I'm quite glad that I finally used Pinterest for a real, actual use!

left: Trenery Jacket, right: Table Eight jacket

So overall, I love this jacket immensely. It's very simple to make and doesn't use a great deal of fabric - I eked it out of 1.2m fabric but I did have to cut a few corners to make it work. For the next version (and yes, there defintely will be one) I will work on that excess fabric at the back, possibly by putting in a centre back seam instead of the darts and reshaping the armscye. I would also narrow the sleeves somewhat as you can see in the photo above that they are quite wide. But apart from these minor fitting changes it is a great pattern that I can recommend if you're after something simple.

Good luck to all of you doing a Burda challenge this year or those thinking about doing one - there were quite a few good patterns in this issue that should make it easier to choose, including this gorgeous vintage dress, this cute draped jersey skirt and this interesting double layer top.