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Saturday 24 March 2012

Burda Style 02/2011 - 116 Dress

I know there are a lot of you desperate to see the back of the sack dress trend, but I find as long as I add some waist definition they are the perfect thing for our hot and humid summers, easy to wear and dress up or down.

One advantage of ditching the photographic section of my Burda magazines after a year (I do scan the "at a glance" pages of both garment photos and tech drawings) is that I really focus on the pattern lines rather than get distracted by the sometimes not very helpful photography.  In this case I knew I wanted a simple dress with a contrast yoke - I'd have missed this dress if I had just looked at the photos quickly.


(Incidentally this image is from a Russian site I discovered through Pattern Review that is pretty good for looking up Burda patterns, here is the link I use to run it through Google translate - http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&ie=UTF8&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=ru&tl=en&twu=1&u=http://www.osinka.ru/Zhurnaly/Nav/)

The construction for this dress is not very sensible - minor things that are easy to correct.  The yoke is lined but then the edges are basted together and stitched to the body of the dress so the seams show on the inside (this keeps the neck edge clean, but I'm sure it could be done a better way) and the sleeve bands are attached after the side seams are sewn up when it would be much simpler to put them in flat.

I've used a black jersey and a sequinned mesh fabric for the top layer of the yoke.



I left off the shoulder pleats and arm bands because my yoke is a sequin material on the outside which was too bulky to pleat & I did make jersey arm bands but preferred the cleaner look with them folded to the inside.  I also replaced the drawstring casing with a simple elastic casing, and made a separate tie belt.

Close up of yoke, the sequins are a bit more bronze in real life

The result is a super simple and comfortable going out dress, I already have another version cut out from the feather print sheer fabric I bought recently for a day version.







32 comments:

  1. Lovely simple dress. The yoke dresses it up nicely.

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  2. This is just so much nicer than the Burda photo. Very elegant and stylish with the contrasting yoke - well done!!!

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  3. Another winner Allison. I like your fabic combinations.

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  4. You are so good at spotting "a diamond in the rough" and using inspired fabric choices to make it sing. This dress is fantastic, and I never thought that the original pattern had any potential!
    My Burda magazines are beginning to take up a lot of room. I may follow your lead and ditch the glossy bits and just save the line drawings. It's a good idea.

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  5. Cute! Love the sequins. And, while I am not a huge fan of the sack dress, I agree that as long as there is some waist definition it can actually look ok if the fabric has the right sort of drape. Love your dress!

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  6. I'm a sucker for anything shiny. What a great way to use the sequin fabric!

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  7. You have such great taste Allison, I was just catching up on your older post. Your closet must be a wonderous place :)
    Great dress, it drapes beautifully on you

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  8. Love the look. I have gotten used to seeing you do more form fitting, but this is a really nice, easy dress up style.

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  9. Wonderful. This is a great dress that will be perfect for the spring and summer. I agree, as long as there's some waist definition these types of dresses are great for many different body types.

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  10. I really love that and it looks so elegant on you.

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  11. I think it would be a fun dress to wear!

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  12. I love this! What a great dress. The fit is really nice and I loooove the sequins.

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  13. Love the sequins. It makes this simple silhouette very special.

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  14. Love the sequins on the yoke.looks great on you!

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  15. Very Chanel - simple and chic - the touch of bling at the top is great and bonus that your evening dress is comfortable. Your dress definitely looks better than Burda`s.

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  16. I love that you used the sequins fabric on top, so fun and festive. The dress looks lovely on you and I can imagine it is perfect for an evening out.

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  17. Oh, that's lovely! It's a super sophisticated sack dress for sure.

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  18. Hi Allison I have nominated you for a Sunshine blogger award.

    See here

    http://creativecraftwork.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/sunshine-all-around.html

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  19. That is such a simple but fabulous dress. I love it!
    (I also liked the McCalls mock wrap but didn't get round to commenting)

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  20. That's an interesting addition to a simple dress - sequinned mesh fabric! I have to remembet this! Thank you for the idea! And this Russian site I use as a very useful sewing forum, there are a lot of useful things, and Burda's sewn clothes also, like PatternReview

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  21. Lovely dress. It looks fabulous on you. Comfy and elegant at the same time!

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  22. Wonderful dress, Allison, btw I left you an award on my blog.

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  23. You are working it! Love the touch of sequins and the boho vibe.

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  24. Love this dress! The mixture of textiles are superb! Love the sequins:)

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  25. Not only do you make great dresses, but you have great shoes too!

    I have nominated you for a Sunshine Award 2012. see my blog for more details: http://getmystitchon.blogspot.in/2012/03/sunshine-award-wow.html

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  26. Another beautiful dress! I love the choice of sequins for the top yoke, which really dresses up a simple style.

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  27. A stunning classic dress. Great work.

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  28. lindo ! agora aqui no Brazil, começou o frio , mas quando começar a esquentar eu vou fazer..

    Jubi

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