BurdaStyle 11/2015 - 105 Godet Skirt

Isn't it a great feeling when you choose a pattern from one of your Burda magazines only to find that at some point in the past you had already traced it!

That might be part of it, but this skirt is currently my favourite thing and someone may have to stop me making a whole wardrobe of them.

11/2015 - 105

To be honest I'm not completely sold on the colour block version, but the cut is lovely - somewhat fitted in the waist and hips and then all swishy from there down.  It will be perfect for our hot summer weather, not that I have been waiting to wear it - it's great for spring too with a casual denim jacket.

This one is in a very soft cotton floral print.  I love the colours in this and although I'm wearing it with an obvious black knit top here, it will work well with khaki, raspberry and cream so I'll be looking out for fabric for some coordinating pieces.

Getting the seams to meet perfectly at a point is hard, but fortunately the print covers a multitude of sins.  If you're doing the colour block version some serious marking and basting will be needed.

BurdaStyle 02/2018 - 107 Offset Jersey Top

This is one of those patterns that I just simply had to try, I mean just look at this crazy line drawing!

And just the thing for a fishing trip.....!

It is a very fast sew (once you figure out how the 2 pieces go together!) and really fun to make, but does use up quite a bit of fabric - due to the odd shaped pattern pieces you do need the full 2 yards of wide fabric which is quite a lot for a t-shirt.

I had to drape the pieces on my dress form to understand how to sew the first 2 seams.  Hopefully my scribbles on the magazine showing these seams help - remember that the pieces are cut single layer of fabric and right side up, but sewn right sides together so it will make a bit more sense when you flip one piece over.  Though maybe not much more sense as I've made it twice now and I still don't really understand how or why it works!!  (Also note that the pattern piece numbers are 21 and 22, not 1 and 2).

Once those 2 seams are done it should look something like the finished line drawing and you just need to sew up the side/sleeve seams and hem the edges.  Fortunately when worn the craziness of the pattern pieces give way to some nice draping and twisting effects.

My first version is in a very soft fuchsia knit and it is a little bit big, the neckline is quite wide and has a tendency to slip a bit.  I do love the colour though so I might add some shoulder stays to deal with that.

I prefer the fit on my second version which I sewed up a bit smaller, plus I think the fabric content of this one is a bit different (though still unknown!).