Burda Style 05/2011 104 Dress

(With obi style belt from Burda Style 06/2009 - 110.)

You already saw a preview of this dress in my Singapore post (which it has come to my attention should have been called Self Stitched Singapore, not me made, but never mind!).  This is the dress version of the tunic top I made previously - Burda Style 05/2011 104.




It's a very basic dress but ideal for so many occasions and is made from black stretch silk, I've already worn it many times.  Instead of my usual tie belt I made an obi style belt which suddenly seem to be everywhere and liked it so much I went out and purchased two more (from Zara I think) so I can change the look depending on my mood.  

One is black leather with bronze studs in it and the other has grey python print and red ties for a pop of colour.  I have to confess I have discovered that obi belts can make you very hot, but they do encourage you to sit up straight as well!  I plan to wear these belts with different tops and jackets if it ever gets cooler.

 Obi belt pattern from BS 06/2009 - 110, the mid section is interlined with stiff canvas.

You've already seen the casual dressed down with flats version so here it is marginally more dressed up and with different belts.  As always with black (and my lousy photos) it is hard to see the details - sorry!

With the matching belt I made.

With the leather studded belt.

With the grey / red python belt.

Me Made Singapore

Me Made September starts today and I admire anyone who can commit and participate in it everyday.  While I probably do wear something that I have made everyday, especially in the summer, taking and posting photos each day for 30 days?  Well it's just not going to happen.

However I recently spent a long weekend in Singapore as my husband was working over there and as I was packing my bags with stuff I'd made decided I would do a mini Me Made Singapore Weekend.

Friday afternoon travelling
Not a lot made here, just the top version of Vogue 1250 .  Singapore is only a 3.5 hr flight so I ignored all the conventional advice to not wear jeans or heels!


Friday night bar hopping
My new Vena Cava Vogue 1258 dress.  As predicted I can't keep my hands out of the pockets, consider me a pocket convert!

Saturday shopping
Burda 05/2011 - 104 with obi belt.  Blog post to follow!
This black silk dress was perfect for shopping on a hot day (although I didn't find it as hot as Hong Kong is at the moment).  I had to (yes, genuinely had to!) go to Arab Street which is filled with fabric shops - more on that another day....




Saturday afternoon poolside
McCalls 6069, this makes a perfect beach/pool dress.  Actually I confess this photo is from Sunday afternoon as I realised looking at the photos that I had the dress on backwards on Saturday - thought the front was lower than I remembered!


Saturday night dinner
Vogue 1120 DKNY blue silk dress
Admittedly we only got around to taking photos after dinner by which time both model and photographer were tired and had got through a fair bit of wine so these are not the greatest pictures!

Sunday 
I wore this all day, except for another spell by the pool - Vogue 1250 LBD

Vogue 1258 Vena Cava Dress

Thank you everyone for the comments on my Burda dress, I'm still waiting for their phone call, must be problems with the time difference or something....

Having had success with 2 pleats and pockets I have gone the whole hog and made a dress with lots of pleats and pockets, this Vena Cava dress from Vogue's recent releases.

Erica B recently made this and wisely said;

"I like that the skirt tapers off to the hem. This creates a VERY body-conscious silhouette. And the pockets and pleating draws the eyes straight to the hips. So if you're not good with your hips, thighs and butt, walk away from this pattern"


She was not kidding!  My first thoughts when I cut the pattern tissue out were "how on earth are these pieces going to fit on 2 yards of fabric" (they do) closely followed by "how on earth is this back piece going to cover my backside" (only just) and "is it even possible to walk in this" (yes).  The stretch takes care of the walking, but my side seams are swinging to the back a bit, in retrospect one size up at the back would have been a good idea.  (This is a 12, no fitting adjustments).





Not very imaginatively I used a purple ITY jersey, you can see the true colour in these dressform photos below.  I didn't take a photo of the whole dress on the dressform because it looks ridiculous!

I made a couple of minor changes:

• I raised the neckline by about an inch, this is easy to do, just sew up the centre front seam a bit higher
• I left off the topstitching on the sleeve bands.  My thread is not a great colour match, I was impressed with my edgestitching on the bands and thought topstitching was pushing my luck frankly!
• I shortened the ties significantly, they come down to the hem of the dress which looked a bit odd on me.  Erica B tied hers at the back which is another way of dealing with them.

This is quite a different style for me having bypassed the whole tulip skirt trend and I am still getting used to the shape, but it is a really comfortable, yet dressy dress.  I'm a little self conscious about my hips and something about the pockets is not quite hanging right at the lower opening so I may go back and try and fix that.  Anyway enough chat, here are some more photos:

Burda Style 07/2011 - 110 Dress - On Me

Well it's Friday and I have some make up on so here as promised are some photos of the dress on me.

Having already bumped into the tripod Barney also wanted to be in the shot.

I am going to have an urge to stick my hands in my pockets all the time while wearing this dress, I love them!

This is me mucking about trying to recreate the photo from the magazine.  I'm sure Burda will be calling me any day now!

Here you can see that the pockets and pleats stick out when viewed from the side, this is down to the design and is unavoidable, but I can live with it - don't make this if you can't!

Burda Style 07/2011 - 110 Dress

My sewing has been a little haphazard lately with lots of things being traced and started, but for one reason or another nothing was getting finished.  Before my sewing room filled up with UFOs I decided to get my head down and finish this dress - it's from the July issue of Burda Style, #110.  

This is actually sized for petites, but the measurement chart is very helpful so I compared the petite and regular measurements and just added back what I needed in the bodice pieces by slashing them and inserting extra paper.  Strictly I should have added some both above and below the bust, but from my measurements I just adjusted by 1.5cm just above the height of the front inserts so that I didn't have to mess with them, as there is some shaping built into those seams.  

Other than that I followed the instructions - this is the illustrated pattern for the month - and I found them pretty good.  The pattern is really well drafted and everything matches and meets where it is supposed to.  For once I even included the pockets and love them!  Naturally with the pleats and the pockets there is a bit of "pouffyness" going on at the front, which would normally put me off trying a style like this, but it just goes to show you need to step out of your comfort zone and try new things sometimes.  The wide shoulders also help to balance the look as do the contrast front panels.

Here is a close up of the front panels, I just used the reverse side of the fabric on the cross grain, or maybe it was the right side of the fabric, I'm not sure - anyway the other side!  The fabric is like a cotton twill but has quite a different texture on each side, one side sort of basket weave (I used this side as my main fabric) and the other side has a striped effect.  I decided not to add the additional stitching around the panels and pocket edges and in keeping with this handstitched the hem so no stitching is visible on the outside of the dress.

The armholes are very high, I don't know if this is due to the petite sizing but is something to look out for, it's just on the right side of comfortable for me.

 The back view is fairly plain and in dire need of a final pressing!

I'll get some photos of me wearing it in a separate post soon, I feel very Roland Mouret-ish wearing it!