Burda Style 02-2013-115 Maxi Dress

Here is my version of the "Contortionist" maxi dress from the February 2013 issue of Burda Style.

You may remember it looking like this:

Burda said:  "Don't worry.  You don't have to strain yourself.  The dress itself provides enough entanglement with its integrated front ties, gathered at the front and intertwined."

Here is the tech drawing for clarity.  The dress features a two piece front with the lower portion threaded through a loop in the upper portion and attached at the sides.  Separate sashes are gathered and attached at the side seams.  The front and back shoulders are gathered and both the front and the back feature a V-neckline.

My fabric is a polyester/spandex knit from Hancock.  It's very smooth and rather thin with a busy all-over print that features every color in the rainbow and then some.

The fabric is still available on the Hancock site.  It was slippery and wanted to move around while cutting, but it sewed very easily, even hemming was a breeze.

The pattern was offered in sizes 36-44.  I cut a 42 at the shoulders and eased out to a 44 at the bust and then added about 3/4" of extra width to each side of the back skirt from the hip down.  The finished dress feels a tad big, but I think it's because the weight of the skirt pulls it down. If I made it again I would probably fold out 3/8" above the bust to bring the twist up a bit higher.

Burda rated this a 3.5 dot pattern and if it hadn't been the illustrated sewing course, I don't know if I would have attempted this.  I'm not sure I could have gotten the front twist done without the diagrams provided.  It wasn't hard, but I definitely needed the visual instructions for this one.

The front bodice is very generous- there is a lot of fabric gathered together at the center front.  The shoulder seams are also generous with gathers in front and back.  The result is plenty of coverage in front, even though the neckline is plunging.  (Hey, it is Burda, right?)  I raised my neckline by sewing my CF seam about 1.5" higher than the marked seam and it is still very low.  I may go back and try to sew it up a bit more.  Nothing is going to show, but I like my V-neck to be a little higher.  Once again, I think the weight of my skirt is pulling the bodice down making that neckline lower than the paper pattern indicated.

Other than the intricate twist in front and the gathered bodice, I also appreciate that the sashes are generously long on this pattern.  They literally reach the hem of the dress in back.  I had to ask my daughter if they were dragging the ground as I walked because I could feel them against my heels.  She assured me they didn't.

I hemmed this at my ankle.  I didn't want it dragging the ground or getting caught on my shoes.  I also like the idea of my shoes showing.  I'm wearing the dress here with flat, gold metallic sandals.  It's so refreshing to wear a long, swishy dress with flat shoes.  I could really get used to that.

I think I'm done with maxi dresses for the moment.  I have more shorts cut out and in progress for the Princess and I think my next project for me will be short, and shaped quite differently.  Of course I could change my mind...