Actually this is only half of the dress in the title - I was a little nervous that the skirt part would be unflattering on me (
Cidell ended up not liking hers either but turned it into a top she loves). So I decided to use the top of this dress and the skirt and elastic waist treatment from the McCall's pattern that I just made to be on the safe side.
There really isn't very much to say about the construction, I just kind of cobbled the two easy patterns together. I sliced the Burda dress pattern about 1 inch below the marked waistline. It was wider than the McCall's skirt so I took in the side seams a bit and then stretched the skirt to fit - since I was adding some elastic into the waist seam anyway I figured it didn't have to match exactly.
Here is my finished dress - in retrospect I am sure I could have used the original Burda pattern and just added a belt. But why make life easier right!? I really like the cowl neck & sleeve design of this dress - I may well give the original Burda dress a go, perhaps adding some length to the skirt so I can belt it.
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| This dress has elastic sewn in the waist seam as per the McCall's pattern, but I also made a tie belt with leftover fabric. |
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| Close up of the bodice. |
I hurt my knee last week (it's better now) which meant I couldn't go to the gym and this tends to make me rather cranky! So I decided to go to the fabric market instead and found some gems! Pretty excited to get working with these pieces.
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| Silk charmeuse animal print |
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| Mystery grey floral |
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| Sheer feather print |
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| Extremely wide border print fabric, wonder if it was made for bed linen? Here is a close up of the colours. |
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| Most of the width of the piece |
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| Mosaic print jersey - sadly just an odd shaped offcut, will see what I can do with it |
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| Who needs another sequin t? me apparently, just could not resist this lovely bronze on black mesh piece |
I have ideas for some of these but I ordered a few new patterns in the last sale so am just waiting for those to arrive, along with Spring!
Pretty, casual dress! I like the royal blue colour. Fabric shopping is always very consoling, lol! You found some nice pieces. I am looking forward to seeing what you sew with them.
ReplyDeleteRight when I saw the line drawing, I thought this will be such a pretty dress on Allison! I really like how you combined patterns and the fabric color is gorgeous. Can't wait to see your new creations.
ReplyDeleteI love how you cobbled the two patterns together and that is an awesome shade of blue. Lovely dress!
ReplyDeleteOh, what a great idea! I wore a RTW dress of mine with an elastic waist and thought how much I liked it. I'll have to try this next time. That color is electric!
ReplyDeleteThe dress looks great as do your fabric purchases. Do you speak Chinese or do they staff speak English?
ReplyDeleteBeautiful dress in a stunning colour. And I'm besotted with that feather print fabric. Can't wait to see it made up.
ReplyDeleteFantastic dress! I love the color, and that you can dress it up ond dress it down. Well done!!!
ReplyDeleteI wanted to make this exact dress, but feared the bottom part wouldn't look good on me. Now I'm thinking to do the exact same thing as Cidell, use it as a top pattern
ReplyDeleteLove the dress - and your fabric is gorgeous!
ReplyDeletewhat a glorious colour! The dress will be a knock-out. The fabrics are beautiful too, the feather one is my favourite
ReplyDeleteWhat a fab idea! For hot hot summer, I prefer an elastic waist to a belt because belts become unbearably sweaty when it's over 90 F. I think I'm going to have to copy you.
ReplyDeleteFabric is excellent balm for whatever ails one. `-) Glad your knee is better.
What a great shade of electric blue for that dress, and the changes you made look great.
ReplyDeleteThose new fabrics look great as well, and make for a good consolation prize for not being able to go to the gym. Hope your knee heals quickly!
What a lovely neckline. It drapes very nicely but doesn't look prone to wardrobe malfunctions! I do like cowl necks.
ReplyDeleteI'm drooling over that feather print fabric.
Feather print. GOT TO HAVE.
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some great fabrics, I would love to have that sequin fabric - while I do not wear a lot of sparkles I do have one sequin embellished tee and it is amazing how often it gets worn. Can't wait to see what you make.
ReplyDeleteI like the way you turned this essentially shapeless dress (with an interesting neckline) into a great garment. Your fabric choices are all amazing. I'm particularly interested in the border print.
ReplyDeleteIt looks terrific on you!
ReplyDeleteLove this dress, what a great color. Sorry you hurt you knee but fabric shopping made the hurt go away I am sure. Love the fabrics!
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