Burda Style 02/2011-103 Skirt

I have started making something! Just a skirt, but it's a start. Here is the pattern;

I am making it in a pinstripe as shown in View B in the magazine which creates an interesting effect at the back. My fabric only has a small amount of stretch and the pattern calls for a stretch fabric so I have cut wide side seam allowances and am crossing my fingers!

I thought I could get away with cutting the back pieces with the fabric doubled but it must have slipped a bit as I just could not get the lines to meet up at the centre back seam. Luckily I had enough fabric to recut a back piece and I marked the lines onto the pattern piece to use as a guide to make sure my new right back piece matched the existing left back piece. This is where not adding seam allowances to my traced patterns is very helpful. So I recommend cutting the back pieces using a single layer if you are using a stripe or plaid.

Here is the back with the invisible zipper and godet sewn in.

Stone embellishment, revisited

Here are some more details on the stones that I used to revamp the plain LBD in my last post.

This is the type of stone I used, they are available in many different shapes, sizes and colours. These ones are sew on - you can see in this size there are 4 small holes on the underside of the metal casing which are invisible when you look at the stone straight on so are great for decorating garments. I've threaded a needle through the top set of holes in case you can't see them.

My dress was made of wool which was sturdy enough not to need additional interfacing, although a lot of the stones were on part of the neckline that was faced anyway. With lighter weight fabrics or a lot of stones you may want to make sure that the area to be embellished is strengthened either separately or as part of the design - e.g. a neckline band, waistband, yoke.

Here are a couple of RTW examples I found on my internet travels.

Asos

Milly

Coldwater Creek

I also found a great site for inspiration shopping - Shopstyle, you can look in specific categories or search on key words - lots of good stuff here!

Embellished LBD

Thank you for your pearls of wisdom following my last post. I know this happens to us all at one time or another and that if I forced myself to make something it would end up a wadder. It's not as if I have clients or a deadline to worry about. It seems the universe is doing its best to help too - this week I received Patrones #300, a late Christmas gift on making vintage bags and Vogue are having an online sale so I may get a few of the new patterns. So I will be back in action soon I think.

Meanwhile I did something I have been meaning to do for a while - embellish a plain LBD with some stones. (I just found my original blog post talking about this from August 2009 so anytime I announce a plan feel free to take no notice!).

I wanted to create a "necklace" effect and just arranged the stones directly on the dress until I was happy with the result. I then roughly drew the final design so I wouldn't forget it and stitched the stones on starting in the centre. My stitching and placement are not perfect - I don't think I will be getting a call from Lesage anytime soon - but I am happy with it.

The dress is from my old favourite, Burda 02/2009 - 124 which I have made 3 times already - and has been sitting in my wardrobe for over a year ever since I made it for my grandmothers funeral. I think it deserves to be worn again and I think she would agree.

Back issues of Burda query

"D" recently left a comment on an old post asking where to get a copy of Burda 04/2008, specifically for the trench jacket with pleat trim. Sorry I was not able to reply personally so I hope you see this D. Other than the usual ebay, Pattern review classifieds the only other suggestion I have is to search on Pattern Review and see if anyone near to where you live would be willing to lend or copy the pattern for you. Alternatively you could search for a similar pattern in the big 4 and add your own pleated trim - it's just a strip, I think this and the topstitched belt are the only really unique details so you could get pretty close. If anyone has any other ideas please let me know.

Mojo Gojo

Kung Hei Fat Choi! Happy New Year of the Rabbit!


Well the complete lack of posts here tells you everything you need to know about my creativity levels at the moment. I'm not entirely sure why, we just had a long weekend here to celebrate Chinese New Year which, while very welcome, always throws me out of a routine. I also think I am feeling between seasons at the moment and not in the mood for making either winter or spring clothes.

My McCall's top is done but looking very boring without any sleeves, ruffles or embellishments, but I just haven't been happy with anything I have experimented with so for now it will have to stay boring.

It makes me feel a little down that I seem to have neither the will or skill to create anything, I hope it passes soon. Meanwhile thank goodness there are still plenty of great bloggers out there to fill gaps!

Hot Patterns Razor Sharp Pants - Finished

Cue unexciting hanger shot....

Well having gushed about how fantastic the muslin for these pants was I can tell you that making the real ones was not plain sailing! For the muslin I obviously did not do the fly front and when it came to making them, this part completely threw me. I spent quite a bit of time pinning, sewing, unpicking before I finally got it and I don't know if in the process I stretched out the fronts a bit, but it required some alteration to get the front to fit better.

While I am happy with the back and side views, I'm still unsure about the front and think I do prefer a bootleg rather than a straight cut on me. I may be overanalysing things though so I think it's best to take a break from these and try them on again (and publish the results!) when the tops are done. I think in my head I am trying to get an unattainable fit (and body!) like this;

whereas reality is more like this - (real life = wrinkles, right?)

(images from Nordstrom)

I am finding myself analysing the crotch on all pants photos so need to stop now before I start doing this in real life and get into all sorts of trouble! In any case more work is needed before I can declare I have a pants TNT pattern.

I usually use Sandra Betzina's method when making fly front pants but I didn't know how to modify it for faced pants so I forged ahead with the Hot Patterns instructions. If you make these you need to know there are 2 errors:

At least in my version of this pattern, the waistband facing is marked incorrectly. The shorter front facing is actually the right front facing, the left front facing is the longer one. This is obvious once you have interfaced the wrong side of these pieces (assuming of course that the printed side up of the pattern is the right side).

There is also a typo in the first line of the fly front instructions so get a pen and correct that before you go any further. The second sentence of step 5 should read "Join the short front edge of the RIGHT front facing..", not the left. Of course you could swap everything around and have the fly overlapping in the opposite direction but that makes all the rest of the instructions truly mindblowing so I preferred to make these two amendments, then you can follow the instructions and they make sense.

Finally, a finished faced fly!




Or if you prefer Kay has helpfully provided a step by step photo guide to this type of fly front here http://www.flickr.com/photos/54636325@N00/sets/72157605144357793/with/2506715312/

There were some great ideas for the tops in the comments from my last post so thank you for those, they have got me thinking so we will see soon what I end up with...