3 dot Burda conquered in less than a week!

Sunday 19 September 2010
The husband and I had a night out with some friends on Saturday night, sans children. Dinner, drinks and adult conversation - boy was I excited about this night out because for us they are few and far between. In fact this is only the second time we've been out together without Anna since she was born 20 months ago! So I decided that I needed something new to wear: enter Burda 2008-09, jacket 129
It's a fairly simple shawl collared jacket, made up in the magazine in a bland beige colour which is why I overlooked it for all this time. But this photo I spied recently in the fashion section of the weekend newspaper was my inspiration:


This is actually a $968 white blazer with a $495 black lace short sleeved blouse layered over it, with the sleeves of the blazer casually but stylishly scrunched up. Now, I can't do those weird layering combinations without looking, well, weird, and my sleeves would never stay so perfectly pushed up. And so this is my version:

I used a coffee coloured cotton sateen from the stash for the base layer, and a black cotton lace for the upper layer that was sort of from the stash. What I mean by 'sort of' is that I had some black polyester type lace in a traditional flower pattern in the stash that I was (finally) going to use, having been gifted it and not likely to use since it's not my style. But when I was in Spotlight buying some thread and lining, I spied this cotton lace with a circle pattern that I liked better, and it was on sale and there you go: my intention was to use stash material but the reality didn't quite make it!

To make it I just treated the cotton sateen as underlining to the lace, stitching the two layers together for each pattern piece and then making the jacket up as per usual. I left the lace layer off the collar piece and made the pocket welts from the cotton sateen as well to make them stand out. I made a bound buttonhole too, but it's in black so you can barely see it at all - hardly worth the trouble but it does look better than a machine buttonhole I have to admit.

I started this last Monday night and finished it Saturday lunchtime, working on it for about 9 hours all up including tracing the pattern, cutting out and sewing up. Gotta love those shawl collar jackets - they are much simpler and quicker to make than a notched collar jacket. Plus this has raglan sleeves so there is no setting in of those pesky sleeve caps. It also helped that I didn't really look at the Burda instructions at all except for how to figure out how the fiddly neck facing is attached to the collar facing, and so I didn't waste precious time trying to decipher what passes for their sewing instructions.

I also followed this tutorial over at Threads on how to do a bagged lining. I find this one much simpler to understand than any of the sewing books I have, although they lost me completely on how to do the sleeve hems so I did that by hand.

And this is how I wore it out on Saturday night, paired with shiny heels and a black Vogue 8280 (the Roland Mouret galaxy dress knock off) that I made some time ago:

I was a bit overdressed compared to my dining companions, but I don' t often have the chance to get all dressed up so when I do I grab it with both hands!

20 comments:

  1. Lovely! Great work in such a short time block. And the lace was part of the stash once you got home from Spotty!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very sharp and well done for doing it in such record time ! If you treated the lace and sateen as one layer, does that mean you used a separate lining as well (3 layers?) Otherwise how did you finish your inside seams? If you reply in comments I'll come back and check - thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Gorgeous! You look absolutely lovely!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I like your jacket! It is chic and creative. Great idea to use lace and a contrasting underlayer!
    I can't believe it only took you 9 hours to make it. Or, better said, I certainly believe it. What I can't believe is that it takes me longer than that to sew a t-shirt!!! :-( Ah, poor me...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Do you every buy fabric from Gorgeous Fabrics? If you do, and you follow Ann's Blog - and then Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing http://www.blogforbettersewing.com/
    you will see that they are working on a trench sew-along using a Colette pattern "Lady Grey" and you will see lace underlined for a coat http://blog.gorgeousfabrics.com (except Ann is doing a different pattern now).

    ReplyDelete
  6. The jacket is beautiful and suits you very much. Well done for making it so quickly in such a short time. Good to see another blogger (Vicki) refers to Spotlight as Spotty too.

    ReplyDelete
  7. What a great jacket and a lovely outfit! Hope you had a great time and I can't believe that Anna is almost 2 years old!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Well done! Great implementation of your idea, the result is elegant. The sateen pocket welts are really the right trim detail. Your dinner companions should be inspired to dress up more.
    I am inspired to start sewing instead of just reading about it.
    Ditto Mary Nanna's query about your seam finish?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Lovely just lovely. I might have to copy your idea- I have some black eyelet sitting in the stash that my aunt gave me a LONG time ago. You look fabulous and don't think about being overdressed - lets all bring back getting dressed up to go out.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Just lovely!! I really like the jacket, great concept.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Fabulous and amazing that you finished it so quickly!! Congrats on a night out kid-free, too. I'm trying to remember the last time we managed it...

    ReplyDelete
  12. Tres elegant! I love the light tan and the black lace together; it's a great look. I've been seeing a lot of those tuxedo shaped collars on jackets recently, so it's definitely coming back.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Mary Nanna - I just overlocked the edges of each of the lace/sateen pieces, and made a seperate lining out of some Bemsilk lining. Basically I sewed it just as I would have were it a single layer of fabric.

    ReplyDelete
  14. That is a very classy jacket and congratulations on mastering the mysteries of burda.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Gorgeous jacket and outfit!! You did a fantastic job with the sateen and lace!

    ReplyDelete
  16. A wonderful peice that will last for years...lovely.
    I miss dressing up,it seems to be almost a lost art these days.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I'm drooling over your jacket particularly because I just pulled this pattern out to consider this fall. Your made a gorgeous, chic outfit.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Gorgeous jacket. I love your fabric and color choices. It looks fabulous!

    ReplyDelete
  19. BEAUTIFUL!!! I love your choice of lace.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Gorgeous jacket. I love the fabric choice!

    ReplyDelete