The Sewing Place
The Emporia => In the wardrobe => Topic started by: dolcevita on July 05, 2018, 10:03:54 AM
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I'm having a bit of a summer dress binge at the moment and loved the design of the A-line summer dress on the cover of the July Burdastyle magazine. I found some printed cotton/linen mix in Fabricland that seemed like just the job for it and it's coming on well at the moment. There's a little more hand sewing than I anticipated, but this is mainly as thread tracing that Burda recommend in the instructions. Burda's instructions are minimal at the best of times, so if it's included I usually do it.
The pattern is a petite sizing, which work well for me as I'm just on the edge of their standard sizing for my height. I was a little concerned about the placement of the pockets and facings, but they hit at my high hip and so aren't a problem and don't draw a disastrous horizonal line. It's loose fitting through the waist, lovely for the hot weather. Burda use a metal zip on their version with the teeth exposed, but I'm swapping it for an invisible zip as that's what I have. I've graded down through the sizes from top to bottom to reflect my pear shape, but that's easily done with the lines of this pattern.
Here's the dress and the fabric, along with some silk that I've used for the lining. As it's a hot weather summer dress, I'm going for maximum comfort.
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DV, that looks lovely, and the fabric will be perfect. I stopped getting Burda when my local newsagent closed down, and we haven't got a WH Smith in town any more, so it isn't easily available for me . Maybe I need to look further afield....
I still use my old Burda magazines (and Ottobre), for children's wear, as they are such lovely patterns.
Look forward to seeing your progress with this one.
Jessie
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Thanks, Jessie. I've ended up subscribing to Burda even though I know there will be some duff issues in amongst them. That said, I often go back to ones that are years old and make something from them; Burda are very fashion forward and it takes a few years for some of their stuff to become more acceptable to old girls like me!
Here's the progress up to last night.
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That's lovely DV, your fabric is beautiful!
As you say, Burda can be used over and over - and I still do!
I suppose subscription is a possibility, but as you say, there are sometimes duff issues...
Jessie
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Beautiful fabrics DV especially the silk lining, a pretty dress for the summer.
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That looks really nice.
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Nice simple style, which will show off that lovely navy and white fabric.
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I love that fabric! I'm a Burda girl too @dolcevita although I hadn't bought a mag for ages. I have back issues going back for quite a few years so have plenty of patterns to trace should I feel the need....
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Very nice - must get ou amy old back issues too!
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Here's the finished article. I could have saved myself some time with the lining by machine sewing the long sections together but decided to press the seam allowances in and then hand sew, both for greater accuracy and for a softer finish on the silk. I wore the dress yesterday evening and the lining feels gorgeous against the skin.
The style of the dress is really comfortable. It's an odd thing to describe, but it feels really 'secure' around the neck and shoulders. Not choking or anything, just like it isn't going to go anywhere! The rest flows nicely, not surprising given that it's an A-line. The only downside is that it wasn't possible to do a sway back adjustment; I normally need to take out about 2.5cm for this with Burda patterns so I do have a bit of a rumple at the centre back waist, but I can live with that in this case and it's not too obvious in the large pattern.
I may make another in plain linen but not this year as I have my full quota of summer dresses now and it's time to move onto some other things.
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Lovely DV, that fabric suits the style so well.
I'm now looking at options for purchasing Burda magazine - you enabler you! :) :)
Jessie
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That is lovely.
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Thanks, ladies.
Jessie - I subscribed to Burda as I got fed up with waiting for it to appear in WHSmith but, to be honest, it takes a long old time to arrive on the sub, I would say at least a week, more like 10 days after it's available in the shop. Ironically, the lowest price for the sub was WHSmith online, but they are just a middle man as the magazine is sent out by someone else. That said, I don't have to go hunting for it any more.
I am going to make a resolution to make at least one garment from each issue, but knowing how some issues can be for ugly patterns, it's not one that I may be able to stick to!
I will probably make another of these dresses as it's lovely to wear, but probably not this year, even though it's reminding me more and more of 1976 when summer dresses were very welcome.
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Nice and cool for summer @dolcevita. Love the coolness of silk when it's hot.
What was the problem with a sway back alteration?
Nice to see you posting again. Hope things have settled down for you.
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@dolcevita that dress is beautiful and I looooooove the lining.
If I could just find the fabric of the original Burda dress, I'd kill to get that print.
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knowing how some issues can be for ugly patterns, ...
So true but then again there are issues I go back to over and over. An issue I love the most is several years old!
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Lovely dress. I used to subscribe to Burda, in fact my son has bought the subscription for me a couple of times for Christmas.
I think I may do again, especially as I am going to do more sewing for me.
I do find, though, that they are too big across the back of my shoulder. Need to do a toile every time.
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I find that Burda's sizing is really consistent and once I know the differences between their sloper and the real me, I can get away with the same adjustment all the time without needing a toile. I invariably have to do a swayback adjustment and also one for sloping shoulders. On tops, of course!
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I'm just back from my holiday and I wore my navy print dress a lot - it was lovely and comfortable in the heat, especially with the silk lining.
I liked it so much, I've decided to do another one, but going for the full on groovy 60s vibe. I picked this fabric up in fabricland a few weeks ago. Aside from the very obvious pattern, it's tricky to describe; somewhere between a ponte roma and scuba is the best I can come up with. Smooth but not as rubbery as some of the scuba fabrics I've come across. I need to check on the stretch to see if I can eliminate the rear zip, but the dress is more fitted than it first appears so I may put one in anyway. I'd need to find a stretch lining to get rid of the zip and I'd rather use up some of the woven linings in my stash.
Prepare to be dazzled (sideways)!
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@dolcevita gorgeous polka dots, almost exactly what I was looking for last week - in cotton though.
I edited you post to embed the picture in the text, that way it isn't sideways :)
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Thanks, Manuela, they're quite a statement, aren't they? I'm not sure what they're saying, but it's loud!
Umm, the picture still looks sideways to me, but the fabric looks the same. I've never figured out why some images go sideways - another of life's mysteries to me, I'm afraid.
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Lovely dress and the polka dot version will be great too.
I see the Burda mag in the shops much more regularly now. It used to be difficult to find but even my local newsagent stocks it. I suppose that's the Sewing Bee influence.
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It's still sideways, but still gorgeous!
Look forward to seeing pics of it made up!
Jessie
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I love your first dress, and think your polka dot fabric will look stunning. Burda sizing has generally been consistent for me, but a couple of flops were jersey dresses, both of which came out huge. I don’t subscribe at the moment because I’m lucky to usually have several different sewing mags to flick through in the papeterie. I’m probably going to get the August Burda. Several commentators have said they’re unimpressed but I like several styles in there. One style on my like list is in plus size, I’ve successfully downgraded from Burda before where the plus size range has a low start, and I only had to move down a little.
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Hi Jen, yes, there is usually a much better choice of sewing magazines in France. We frequent a small peninsula in Brittany and their tiny newsagent there is incredibly well stocked and usually has a choice of at least 5 sewing magazines. I agree about the August issue, there are a couple of things in there that I have my eye on, too. Is the plus dress the one with the herringbone pleats in the centre? I thought that was lovely.
Although I end up making pretty much the same alterations to Burda patterns, I never take anything on trust and always measure the actual pattern pieces before I trace them off as their design ease can vary a lot. I'm essentially a lazy sewer and would rather check everything at the tracing stage than mess around too much once it's under the machine.
Cutting out tonight, hopefully.
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I really didn't think about this when I bought the fabric, but there's quite a large pattern repeat on this polka dot fabric and so I find myself spending the evening pattern matching for the side panels. I wouldn't be able to live with it if I don't pattern match it, especially as it would be very noticeable on the high hip pocket line. Do I want everyone's eye drawn to this area of my person? No, I most certainly do not!
Here's one advantage of tracing out patterns. To do the matching, I've just taken the side panel pieces, laid them on the centre fronts and backs where they will sit and traced over sufficient dots to allow me to then position the piece so that everything aligns.
Where the side panels are inset, the long edges of the centre front and back are faced to give a sort of flap. Because of the pattern matching, I've decided to face them with plain black ponte to make life a little easier. I've also eliminated both the centre back zip and seam as I'm going to use a stretch lining so there won't be any need for it. I have, however, checked that I can get my head through it without the zip as it's a reasonably high neckline!
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If I could just find the fabric of the original Burda dress, I'd kill to get that print.
Me too @Manuela. If I remember from my sub days, they used to list the stockists of all the fabrics they used to make the patterns towards the back of the mag. Might be worth seeing if you can view it online somewhere
I love that dress, but with biggish boobies and a short neck, I just cannot wear anything that high at the neckline.
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@crafter I bought the magazine on Ebay, it's on its way. Sadly, most of the time the stockists are in Germany....
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@crafter - the magazine arrived and the fabric source is mentioned as Selecta Com, an Italian wholesaler. The website they mention in the stockist list (www.selectacomo.com) can't be reached :S
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Oh this looks lovely!
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@crafter - the magazine arrived and the fabric source is mentioned as Selecta Com, an Italian wholesaler. The website they mention in the stockist list (www.selectacomo.com) can't be reached :S
How infuriating! I think it's cheating when they use gorgeous fabrics that you can't get hold of for love nor money as you can never truly replicate the look in the photo/pattern.
Burda do this fairly often - I've tried to track down some of their fabrics in the past with little or no success. Other magazine, such as Ottobre and Knip Mode, have a shop where you can buy the exact same fabrics they use in their versions.
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Not much help I know but I recently saw what were called Burda fabrics in a fabric shop in Berlin. I assume these were from the August Burda.
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I looked for fabrics with a similar vibe, and some of the Marimekko prints would fit the bill....
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This evening has finally been cool enough to get the iron out to press the side seams and hems to finish my spotty dress.
Because of the A-line skirt, I couldn't pattern match the side seams, only the inset side panels, but I think anyone looking will be so blinded by the rest of the spots, it's not a serious flaw.
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Nice pattern matching! You can't match everywhere. It was nice yesterday to get in the sewing room. Cooking today but hopefully get in the later.
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@dolcevita I take my hat off to you. This IS excellent pattern matching, especially because of the irregular dot pattern.
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Love the dotty dress @dolcevita , great fun :)