Burda Style 05-2008-125

I finished this dress last Sunday, and it's taken me all week to find the right opportunity to take a photo.  Lucky for me, the sun came out today after a nice rain shower.  Not so lucky for me is the finished dress.

The dress itself turned out fine.  The linen/rayon/lurex blend fabric is perfect for this pattern.  I lined it edge to edge with black poly and it turned out very nice inside also.

 No, I just have a feeling that this is "not my dress."  The tech drawing is very nice.  But the finished dress is just not working for me as well as I had hoped.  The color is wrong for me- too light against my pale skin.  I might be able to fix that, though, once the weather cools and I can add some black hose and a cardigan. 
 

I love the high neckline, the sleevelessness (is that a word?) and the upper bodice which offers a great canvas for showcasing a statement necklace.
 

The waist seam on this is slightly dropped, and that, combined with the horizontal gathers across the front, makes my shape appear more rectangular than it really is, which is not the effect I was going for.

The front skirt overlay droops ever so slightly.  I worked very hard to get the gathers sewn into the dart just so, ripping out and re-doing it at least three times.  Here is a picture of what the dart looks like on the inside:

No matter what I did, though, I could not get the hem of the overlay to match up with the underskirt.  I finally gave up and decided to live with the slight droop.  It's not too bad. 

Here is a photo of the front princess seam.  I clipped the seam allowance right above the gathers so I could press the upper, curved part of the seam toward the center, and the lower part toward the side so the gathers would lay nice and smooth.

All seams were serged on both the fashion fabirc and the lining since both fabrics frayed like crazy.

I'm happy to have this dress finished so I can move on to something else.  I'll wear it, I just don't think it will be one of my favorites.

In Progress

So what is on the sewing table here in Frogland?  This lovely little sheath dress from the May 2008 issue of Burda World of Fashion:

The fashion photo isn't great.  It's always hard to tell what a garment looks like when it's shown made up in black .  You have to take a look at the tech drawing to really see the great details in this dress.

This is a princess seamed sheath (one of my favorite styles) with some really nice gathering on the skirt and bodice.  The gathered part of the skirt is actually an overlay.  The underskirt is plain with two darts.  The overskirt is caught into the right side seam and the gathers are caught into the dart on the left side.  I haven't gotten to that part in the construction process, so I will have to let you know how it goes.  I imagine precision marking and sewing will be required.

The back of the dress is all one piece with vertical darts and a center back zipper.  It's also fully lined.  I plan to use the "edge to edge" lining technique to finish the neck and armholes.

I'm using the grey linen/rayon/silver lurex blend fabric that I picked up from Hancock's back in May.  I originally thought to make a pair of wide leg pants out of it, but I decided a sheath would be more suitable.   The dress is interesting, but conservative, so I thought the extra little sparkle of the lurex would give it a little pop.  So far the fabric is behaving. It was easy to cut and it's easy to sew.  I was worried about pressing it, but so far I've had no problems. 

I'd really like to get this dress finished this weekend.  The August issue of Burda Style arrived last week and I really want to make a couple of things in there.  If only there were a couple more hours in the day.

How is your sewing going?  Are you still sewing for summer, or have you begun sewing for fall?

Simplicity 3833- The Second Time Around

 This past weekend I finished up Simplicity 3833.
 

This is the second time I've made this dress.  The first was back in July of 2010, almost exactly 2 years ago.  I loved that version and wanted to make it again.  What could be easier than whipping up an easy dress that you've already made before?

I made view C again, the longer version with no sleeves.

 

Since I'd already made it, I didn't have to make a muslin or make any pattern adjustments.  I was able to just cut it out and sew.

I used this cute quilting cotton with a pink and orange stylized floral print.  There is some metallic gold in there, too.  I think I bought this at Jo-Ann's and I've been hoarding it for probably a good five years.  Recently I've felt the urge to just cut into some of the fabrics I've been "saving for something special."

Pink and orange is one of my favorite color combos.  I wore this dress to work yesterday topped off with this little orange ruffled cardigan.  Yeah, it's a lot of orange, but I didn't care.

This is the perfect dress for the brutal heat we've been having.  The cotton fabric is crisp and comfortable, and the fit of the dress is loose, but not baggy.  I love having no sleeves, and it's very easy to add a little cardigan to stay comfortable in my cool office. 

I might even make this again.  I have a sweet seersucker plaid pulled out and I keep thinking how awesome it would be to have a little plaid shift to run around in for the rest of the summer. 

Now I'm off to find a popsicle.  Did I mention it's hot outside?