BurdaStyle 5/2018 - 114 Tie Front Sheath Dress

I've had a run of making skirts lately and should probably now switch to tops so I have whole outfits that I can actually wear, but no instead I decided to make a dress!

This is quite a basic sheath dress and I decided to make it in some of my bargain stretch cotton twill fabric.  There is very little to say about the construction honestly.  I cut a size 40 and then basted the side seams until I was happy with the fit.  I should have done the same with the sleeves as they are a little tight on me.  My fabric was stretchy enough that I didn't need to add the split at the back seam.

5/2018 - 114

Looking at the line drawing I see I'm supposed to knot the tie which I haven't done in any of these photos, oops!  My fabric is not at all slippery so it stays tied like this.

There are no facings, instead the dress is lined to the edge.  I lined just the bodice with a scrap of printed cotton.  If I'd had enough fabric I would have just drafted a neck facing I think, it feels odd lining such a casual fabric even though the dress looks quite...dressy!

I've found that uploading photos is so much easier from my phone than my camera.  The quality is not as good (time for a new phone!) so apologies for the slight blurriness, but I'm hoping this will help me get through my blogging backlog faster!

Three Easy Knit Travel Dresses

I've mentioned before that I love knit dresses for the summer and especially for travelling - they are comfortable, pack up really small and light and don't crease plus it is easy to wear them very casually for sightseeing and dress them up a bit for evening.

This is mostly old news if you follow my instagram account (@allisoncsewing), but last month I went to Puglia, Italy and as usual decided at the last minute that new dresses were needed.  I turned to 3 of my favourites that I have made many times before.  I actually only managed to get two of them done in time, but the final one is finished now and will still get plenty of outings before summer is over.

Burda Style 05/2010 - 105
I have lost count of the number of times I have made this dress (& now I think about it I packed 4 of them on this trip!).  I usually widen the skirt and wear a slip underneath to reduce the lumps and bumps a bit, but honestly I prefer the narrower skirt silhouette if you have the confidence for it.

This version is very casual, in a soft pink & black stripe cotton knit.  It doesn't drape as well as some of the ITY knit versions I've made in the past, but for casual daywear it is ideal.

McCall's 6319 (out of print)

I've only ever made View A and I've never bothered putting on the zipper at the shoulder, perhaps I will branch out on a future version!

This one is in a classic black & white striped knit, I like the effect the asymmetric pleats make with the stripes.

McCall's 6069 (out of print)

Last but not least is McCall's 6069, View A which is the one I just finished last week.  Despite making this dress a few times before I have yet to make it in anything close to the 1 hour boldly claimed on the pattern!  Originally I wanted a sort of relaxed maxi sundress feel so I widened and lengthened the skirt.  However, when I tried it on it looked too much like a formal gown with it's dramatic front and back cowl drape.  This is good to know if I ever need a packable, quick to make fancy dress, but it wasn't what I was looking for this time so I hacked the skirt down to midi length.

BurdaStyle 07/2018 - 113 Knot Dress

I loved this pattern from the July issue of Burda Style and made it in record time (for me anyway) for a whistle stop trip in the UK before heading to Italy for a holiday.

https://www.burdastyle.com/pattern_store/patterns/knotted-neckline-dress-072018

The knot detail at the neck is really interesting, I had assumed it was just a simple slit in the centre front seam, but the pattern pieces are curved and lined so that you end up with a circle that stands out from the bodice a bit.  This creates nice gathers when you add the loop in later.  Fortunately this part of the instructions has an illustration which helps a bit.

I made a size 40 and added around 20cm to the length of the skirt so that it would be midi length (I was making this to wear to Henley Regatta in the UK which has a strict, if slightly prehistoric dress code - nothing above the knee, no trousers or culottes).

I used quite a loud crepe print in shades of pink, orange, black & cream.  It is a complete accident that I ended up with a neat little cream diamond shape at the centre front bodice seam as I did not even attempt any pattern matching.

I really love the finished dress, the v neckline and cut on sleeve style are  my personal favourite shapes and I would like to make it again, perhaps in a solid colour.  

The weather in the UK was absolutely glorious, it was pretty hot the day I wore this and it was really comfortable although it creased a bit from sitting.

It's not like this all day, but these photos from the event amused me - largely empty deckchairs for viewing the rowing and a jam packed bar!   (No judgement from me, I was doing the same!).

Vogue 9293 Dresses

This pattern is from the Vogue Easy Options range and has a number of different skirt and sleeve options to create different looks.  I used the pattern to make not one, but two cocktail dresses for two events I went to recently!

https://voguepatterns.mccall.com/v9293

The first was a formal black tie dinner and I didn't want to wear the full length ballgown I made last year (see post here). I did however have a lot of that same brocade fabric left.  Originally I was thinking of making a full skirted ballgown, plus there was a separate piece on the bolt they gave me - I probably still have enough for a jacket or pencil skirt, but I'm kind of done with this fabric for now!

Brocade is not one of the recommended fabrics (seersucker, linen, challis, broadcloth) for this dress, but I thought it would work and chose view A, the short sleeved, full skirted version.

I left off the pockets and also lowered the neckline a bit.  I just did this by folding the edge over on my dressform and ended up creating a small v at the back neckline too, just to get it to sit nicely.  The original neckline is finished with bias tape, but I decided to create a facing piece to match my new neckline which I then interfaced to give it a bit more structure in my brocade fabric.

I sewed the side seams last as is my preference so I can fine tune the fit in the bodice.  The hems were all finished invisibly by hand which was faster than I expected as the texture of the brocade hides everything.

Despite the small risk taken with completely ignoring the fabric recommendations, I'm really happy with my cocktail dress.  It was comfortable to wear and great for dancing - sorry no photographic evidence!

Just a week later I had another, smaller dinner to go to which was Oscars themed and I decided it was time for a new LBD cocktail dress in my wardrobe.  We had visitors that week too so with limited time I just pulled out this pattern again and made View D, the short sleeved, pencil skirted version.

I used a black silk dupion which I underlined with black silk organza and basically made in the exact same way as the first version.  I always use this underlining method when sewing with dupion, it gives it a bit more body and means that no stitching is visible on the outside as all the hems can be hand stitched to the underlining.

Surely now I have a dress for just about any formal occasion!?  I love both of these dresses and I think this is a great pattern, although you may want to check if the neckline is also too high for you.

Maybe one of these days I will get around to making a version in one of the recommended fabrics!

BurdaStyle 01/2018 - 118 Dress

Thank you for the comments on my wrap coat, I got very frustrated with trying to find a pattern to work with the fabric, but a bit of space from the process always helps.  It will be the perfect thing to wear this weekend for Chinese New Year I think.

Back to the Burda 2018 Challenge, those of you who follow my sewing instagram account (@allisoncsewing) will already have seen a preview of this dress.  This was the pattern that really jumped out at me from the January issue although I will not be wearing mine over a sweater like they did in the magazine.  I'm always a bit suspicious when they do things like that - did it not fit right; is there a big gaping hole at the knot part?

The pattern is also available as a pdf at the link below.  There are also a few more photos here (without the sweater!) which is helpful.

BurdaStyle 01/2018 - 118

It's clearer from the photo that the waistline sits just below the natural waist, something I didn't notice until I took photos of the finished dress on my dressform.  

Recommended fabrics for the dress are "dress fabrics" which is not particularly helpful!  The Burda sample used a stretch viscose crepe and it certainly looked like a dress where some stretch would be a good thing.  I used a ponte fabric in a very dark purple colour that honestly looks almost black and is just as impossible to photograph.  The reverse side is actually black so I was originally planning on using the fabric for something colour blocked, but wanted to get on and make this dress instead so here we are.

The pattern is rated 3 dots which means "intermediate, for advanced learners".  The instructions are a bit scarily long and the front bodice pieces are unusual looking, but it goes together quite easily - the little pattern piece diagrams are marked with seam numbers which is really helpful to refer to as you go through the instructions.

I did make a couple of minor changes - since I made this out of ponte I was able to leave the zipper off and I also did not line the dress which cuts the instructions in half!  A few people have commented that there could/should be pockets in those front skirt seams and I think that would be quite easy to do although personally I don't need any extra bulk around the tummy in a form fitting skirt.

The only part of construction that gave me difficulty was stitching the pleats in place on the inside, it wasn't really obvious to me what to sew to what in a way that was both invisible and secure.  I just experimented with pins until I got something I was happy with, but it's not quite right and does pull a little bit now I've stitched it securely (probably too securely!).

The other bit of important information I missed is tucked away under the section marked Paper Pattern Pieces where it advises that the pleat arrows on piece 21 are marked for size 36 and should be lengthened for other sizes.  I made a 38 in the bodice grading out to a 40 at the hip so it isn't much of a difference, but I think that those pleats should have been a bit longer - no one is going to know though and I am definitely not opening up that bodice again to fix it!

Anyway, in conclusion I love this dress as much as I hoped I would from when I first saw the line drawing, it was interesting to put together and hopefully I will get plenty of wear out of it before it gets too hot.