Burda 05/2010 105 - The One Dot Dress

First thank you so much for all the comments on my last project! Can you believe I have made something else from the same issue and also cut out a jacket from June's issue - things are really looking up.

For some reason decent knits are quite hard to come by in Hong Kong so when I found some great navy knit fabric I grabbed it. Not very imaginatively I instantly thought of this pattern.

This dress pattern is rated only one dot and I promise it is the easiest dress in the world to sew. For anyone out there still a bit nervous about trying a Burda magazine pattern this is the one to start with. There are two pattern pieces plus 2 rectangles for the skirt. And for those of you with a longer attention span than me I think you can make this dress in less than an hour (even less if you can cut neatly and don't bother finishing the hems).

I cut my skirt pieces wider than the pattern suggested because I thought the magazine version looked a bit tight on the model, but actually I think I added a bit too much so I have more gathers at the waist than I would like. I also added quite a deep hem on mine to get the slightly shorter length I wanted.

This will get tons of wear over the summer and I will definitely be making it again when I find the right fabric. As well as being super comfortable, I think this pattern can work for day, dressed up with jewelry and heels for night and even as a poolside cover-up.

It's a winner - make it!

I took these pictures just as the sun was going down and as I was beginning to be eaten by some kind of flying insects so they are a bit rushed, but I couldn't wait till tomorrow to share this one.

(A quick edit following some comments - surprisingly the dress isn't too gappy under the arms, I don't know why, it's a mystery I know - perhaps in a very thin very drapy silk jersey it might be a problem, but my fabric sticks out a bit so nothing shows. It fits well on the shoulders, no slippage at all.)

Burda 05/2010 129 Blouse

I was finally shamed into finishing off my top when my cat made a bed out of it! So here is the finished product after extensive use of a lint roller to remove cat hair.

I always have trouble choosing buttons but settled on these dull (in colour) metal ones, they have a shank on the back so the front holes are purely decorative.

The buttons helpfully came in 2 sizes so I used smaller ones on the lower pocket flaps.

The usual old pose - and yes that is a matching skirt. Originally I pictured making this fabric into a shirtdress and then decided separates might be more versatile, I plan on getting some plain grey washed silk for matching coordinates and of course white will work too.

A closer view of the top and a different pose! Although this top has cutaway shoulders, on me at least it is just about wearable with a normal bra - it would be quite easy to widen the shoulder a bit though if you prefer.

The skirt is Burda magazine 07/2008 - a mix of 113 & 114, minus pockets - really simple, wide yoke, side zip, pleats in front and darts in back. This is the tech drawing of 114 - 113 is slightly longer without the topstitching and waist tie.

I added a deep hem facing and rows of topstitching as shown in view 114 to "sportify" it a bit and tie it to the top.

Thank you for all the encouraging words, I am OK about turning 40 really, my 30's were better than my 20's so I'm just going to assume the trend continues.

I wore the knit top from my last post yesterday and it drove me nuts all day as it constantly slipped off my shoulders - forwards, backwards and sideways! Thank goodness I was wearing a tank underneath. It felt very cool to wear though (as it should with all the ventilation going on) so it can remain in the wardrobe for now to be worn at home.

Also in the "now worn in real life" category is the black print Cynthia Rowley dress with the sequin trim I added. Katharine smartly asked if the trim meant that it was no longer machine washable. Well I hadn't even thought of that, but no way was I going to hand wash it so I bunged it in the machine and crossed my fingers and it was fine, remembered not to put it in the dryer though, that might be a step too far.

Moving on....here's what I am working on now, BWOF 05/2010-129 top.

I just have buttons and sleeve edges to finish, which knowing me will take weeks!

The eagle eyed among you will see that I left off the top pockets. This for once isn't due to laziness, but because I did an FBA and then they just wouldn't sit right. Also I don't have a pointy bit on the end of the placket. This is because I didn't read the instructions before cutting out and didn't see the separate tracing lines for the left and right placket band - I blame the new pattern sheets for that (NOT my aging eyes!).

It's been a while since I got straight onto a Burda magazine pattern, hopefully this is a good sign!

Sewing news, bad news and good news

Sewing News

After the madness of making a mini wardrobe in 2 weeks, it's been a bit quiet on the sewing front and to ease myself back into it I made a simple knit top - McCalls 6078.

I made View A with the cap sleeve, but much as I love the look of the crossover back, I changed it to a plain back as the chances of it falling off are extremely high! I think it would be OK with some strap retainers sewn in? This pattern sews up large, I made a small, ha ha. Otherwise it's an easy top to make, more details in my pattern review.

The fabric feels lovely, but was one of those "oh that's pretty, I'll have it" purchases without really thinking it through and I can't help feeling that the print is a little "old". But that could be paranoia on my part due to my bad news....

Bad News

I'll just spill it - I'm going to be 40 in June - argh, how did that happen, why do I not feel grown up yet? I don't know if anyone in the US pays any attention to this (lucky you!), but my birthday coincides with the start of the football world cup in South Africa and for some reason there are various countdown markers here in HK telling me in flashing neon exactly how many days I have to go. How thoughtful, thanks!

Good News

The good news is that my birthday also coincides with the hubby's business trip. I am going to join him in New York for a weekend and then we'll head off to Bermuda. Woo hoo! I have planned my flight so I have a completely free day on my own in New York on Friday 4th June so if anyone is free to meet for a coffee, lunch, shopping, whatever, I would love to meet up. I plan on packing an empty bag and hitting the fashion district, anything after that is just a bonus birthday as far as I'm concerned.

Another version of Simplicity 2497 by Cynthia Rowley

Originally I made the sleeveless version with the ruffle neck in green silk dupioni (see here). (Slapdash Sewist, Trena made a stunning version of this recently, go here if you haven't seen it).

I also like the look of the drawings for the other views so thought I would test it in a remnant of embroidered cotton I had in my stash. I was a little short on fabric so I had to skip the puffy sleeves and just used the sleeve lining piece. I also added a band of plain black cotton around the hem (the pattern is the right length, I just didn't have enough fabric). If I had planned this ahead I probably would have done the neckband in black also but this was whizzed up just before my easter holidays and I was in no mood to do any unpicking.

Since I had made this before I only tried it on in the final stages and found that it was too big on the waist which made it look really frumpy and sad - the cotton has a lot more "give" than the dupioni I used in my first version. If I didn't want to unpick the neckline you can bet there was no way I was unpicking the zipper and waistband so I just added a couple of tucks in the front of the waistband.

Then in an attempt to make it look intentional I sewed some black sequins in the middle of the waistband and inbetween some of the embroidery lines on the neckline - basically until I ran out of sequins. Of course it would have been much quicker to do the unpicking I was avoiding than to handsew all those sequins, but I quite enjoyed doing it.

Despite the sequins this cotton dress will be great for hot summer days, not that it feels like we are ever going to have any. These pictures were taken on my easter vacation which seems a long long time ago!