Burda Style 03/2012 - 108 Twist Maxi Dress

Technically the long version of this pattern was for a wedding dress, but I thought it would make a good holiday maxi dress made up in a cotton print.

Burda Style magazine 03/2012 - 108C

Continuing (unintentionally) on my animal print theme this is made from a purple and black cotton print.  The bodice is self lined - one thing I didn't like about the construction is that you line the bodice and then put facings on top, I suppose this helps stop the facings showing through on fine fabrics, but it would look neater on the inside if the facing and lining piece were combined.

This dress was the illustrated sewing course for a month which makes it pretty easy to make, even if you have not made a twist top or dress before.  The problem was the pattern came in tall sizes (5ft 9) whereas I am a average-ish 5ft 6 so the pattern needed shortening.  Now you can do this the proper way and take out length in the bodice and skirt or you can do it the cheater way as I did and just take a huge seam allowance at the shoulder and chop a good 12 inches off the hem.  This did end up with the neckline being not too low, but also took the above waist seam towards empire line territory which is not the best look for me.

The Selfish Seamstress made a fabulous version of this dress without altering the bodice at all so if you can get away with that then your waist seam will be in a more flattering place I think.  On me however the neckline was too low and too open and at this stage in the construction the only possible fix was to take up the shoulder seams.

The problem with the now empire seam is that you do get an excess of fabric from the twist right where you don't really want it.  Even my dressform which has flatter than humanly possible abs has a bit of a tummy in this dress.  For some occasions - like lazing about on holiday - this is fine, for others - say a wedding - well then you might want to do your alterations properly.