Burda Style 05-2012-134 A "Really Big Bow" Blouse

I finished this little blouse a couple of weeks ago, and today I finally got around to taking some photos.  My regular photographer graduated high school this past spring and has left for Basic Training, so the Princess had to fill in for him today.  I think she did pretty good.

Anyway.  This is blouse #134 from the May 2012 issue of Burda Style.

You may remember it from the fabulous "La Siciliana" plus feature:

Sorry, I couldn't find the tech drawing online, but it's a pretty simple straight blouse with bust darts, buttons up the front, and short sleeves with narrow elastic in the hems.  The most impressive feature is the long ties that are attached at the neck.

My blouse doesn't look a lot like the one in the photo.  My fabric is opaque, and my bow is much more beefy.  I tried tying it low and loose like the photo and it was a hot mess.  Sigh...  So I will be wearing it all tied up snug and perky at my throat.

I think part of the problem is my fabric, which is a pretty nice "silk look" poly.  I bought it with a dress in mind, but I decided it really wasn't substantial enough for a dress and would make a better blouse.  And I still think it's a great blouse fabric, it's just maybe a little too crisp for this style.  Then again, if you like perky bows, then it's perfect.

The other problem is that I cut my ties on the straight grain, not on the bias as directed.  I did this to fit the ties on the fabric and (truth be told) because I didn't want to wrestle with trying to sew 90 inches of bias and attaching it to the neck edge.  Call me lazy.

Here's the back.  Oh, no!  I didn't zip my skirt quite all the way up!  The skirt is M5590, by the way.

Can you believe this is my muslin?  I just traced a straight 44, did a petite adjustment above the bust, crossed my fingers, and started cutting.  I think it turned out pretty good.  If I make it again, and I might, I would narrow the shoulders by about 1/4" just to get those sleeve seams a smidge higher.  I would also use a softer fabric to see if I could achieve that romantic, loose bow like the model photo.

On the other hand, Burda also offered another version using the same bodice pieces that features a notched collar and cuffed sleeves.  I might try that one, too.

If you want a bow blouse, I highly recommend this one.  Just keep in mind that the ties are long and wide and depending on your fabric and how you lay out your pattern, you could end up with a giant gift bow under your chin... like me.

That's it from me for now.  It's over 100 degrees outside right now and I'm going to go curl up with a cold drink and the latest issue of Threads...

New Look 6802 A Sleeveless Dress for Hot Summer Days

I just finished hemming NL6802 this afternoon.

This is view C, the sleeveless version with the twist front:

The fabric is a rayon jersey print I ordered from Fabric.com last summer.  I bought it with this pattern in mind.  I wanted something with a vertical stripe effect (but not an actual stripe) and this was the closest thing I could find at the time.

When the fabric arrived, it wasn't exactly what I expected.  The scale was larger and the colors were brighter than I thought they would be.  So I held off making the dress and considered several other patterns.  I convinced myself this fabric wanted to be a maxi dress, and I even went so far as to lay it out this past weekend.  Unfortunately, I didn't have enough fabric.  Sigh...

So I decided to go back to plan A, and I dug this pattern out.  I'd already made it a few years ago, so the pattern pieces were already adjusted.  All I had to do was lay it out and cut.

Cutting was a bit of a hassle.  The motifs line up well vertically, but the fabric was printed crooked across the grain.  I had to choose between trying to square up the print or having a dress that hangs straight.  I decided to go for hanging straight.  I even gave up on trying to match the print at the sides or making the bodice pieces symmetrical.  I centered the print on the CF and CB, and just said the heck with the rest of it.  I think it turned out okay.  I love the way the motifs form a starburst effect at the twist.  I couldn't have planned that better.

And the back's not too shabby either.

I made a size 16.  I really should have gone down to a 14 through the bodice.  My dress is a little big on top.  I also raised the CF neckline 1 inch.  I really should have left it and gone down 1 size or just made a petite adjustment above the bust.  It doesn't help that my neckline turned out a little loose and floppy, even though I used clear elastic to stabilize it.  I think it's a combination of using the wrong size and my inexperience with the super stretchy rayon jersey.  I could take in the CF a tiny bit, but that would also raise the neckline even more and it's already bordering on dowdy.  I think I will wait until after I run the dress through the washer and dryer and see if that makes a difference.  I pre-washed the fabric, but the rayon may still shrink a bit...

I love this pattern.  It has an empire seam, but the back is cut in such a way that it clings and of course the twist overlay holds the front close to the body, eliminating much of the blousy effect that you sometimes get with an empire waist.  I've made this three times now, so I guess this pattern qualifies as a TNT.  I'll make it again, too, if the right fabric comes along.

Today is the first day of my summer vacation.  I hope to get a couple more things made before I have to go back to work.  I just pre-washed a piece of fabric that I was hoping to lay out tonight, but it looks like it didn't hold up well in the wash.  Oh, well.  I'm a wash-n-wear kind of girl and I'd rather find out now rather than after I've sewn up a whole garment and then tried to wash it.  

So back to the sewing room to look for something else to work on...

Burda Style 02-2012-131

Two dresses in one weekend.  Can you believe it?   In addition to the knit dress from the previous post, I also finished up dress #131 from the February issue of Burda Style.

This dress was featured in the plus section of the magazine, which was devoted to wedding dresses.  I liked the simple classic shape and the unique curved seaming.

 It's a variation on a princess seamed sheath:

The back seams are just as interesting as the front.  Here's a close-up of my side seams:

This was a pretty simple dress to make.  It was a 2.5 dot pattern with 6 pattern pieces, including facings.  I ended up not using the facings, so my dress only had 4 pieces to cut.

I traced a 44 and then graded the bodice down to a 42.  I made a 3/8" petite adjustment above the bust and added 1 and 5/8" of length to the waist (which changed the shape of my front seams quite a bit.)  I actually could have used a smidge more.  I think this pattern was designed for a short waisted woman.  Even the photo above looks short. 

I also raised the neckline and moved the shoulder straps in one whole inch.  You can read about my pattern adjustment in this post.  Because of all the changes to the bodice, I would have had to draft new facing pieces and I was just too lazy to do that.  So instead, I finished the neckline and armholes with bias binding.  It was quick, easy, and it looks great inside.
 

I also moved the side zipper to the center back.  I found an invisible zipper that just about matched my fabric, but hey- it's invisible, right?  I love the seaming in the back.  It's very flattering, although I think if I'd added that extra little bit of length, it would look better on me.  I think the unique seaming on this dress would make it a great candidate for color blocking.

My fabric is a stretch jaquard from Fashion Fabrics Club.  It has a really nice texture to it and a slight sheen as well.  I go back and forth on the color, though.  When I ordered online, I thought it would be more red.  It's really a weird shade of orange- not pink enough to be coral, but not "orange" enough to be true orange either.  I was thinking I didn't like it until I tried it on today with the turquoise shoes and jewelry.  Now it's kind of growing on me again.

In any case, it was easy to cut and sew, but it didn't want to press very well.  The back especially, doesn't look as crisp as I'd like.

Now that I'm liking the dress again, I think I will go ahead and try the matching jacket.  I traced it this weekend and I just need to throw a muslin together to check the fit.  This really needs something over it to make it work appropriate. 

In other sewing news, I made another muslin this weekend.  More on that later...

Butterick 4788 UFO Sighting

Saturday I wrapped up Butterick 4788, this cute little knit dress with mock-wrapped bodice. 

It's a Maggy London pattern- I seem to always love those- that is sadly OOP now.  I've been meaning to make it for a long time and I finally cut it out back in March, before my trip to Manila.  Yes, it's taken me 3 months to get around to finishing it, and the irony is that it only took a few hours to sew up once I got going.
                                          

 I made View A, the one on the right, with the ruched side, sleeves, and plain A-line skirt.

I used a really cool ITY knit print that I got from Fabric.com last year.  It's black with red, pink and aqua fan-like designs all over it.  The print has a kind of Asian/Art Nouveau vibe to it, which is really nice.
  

I made a size 16 with 1" of length added at the waist, and 1.25" of length added to the skirt.  I could have used a 14.  The waist is a bit loose, but the 16 was the smallest size in the envelope.  Honestly, no one will ever notice. 
 

I pretty much followed the pattern directions, except I left off the little tacked-on bow at the left side.  It seemed unnecessary to me.  I say "pretty much" because I got so caught up in sewing that I didn't pay 100% attention to the directions and instead of basting the right and left bodice pieces together at the right side seam and then stitching the side seam...  I stitched the side seams separately, and then serged the seams before I realised my mistake.
  

It's okay, though.  I just basted the two bodice halves together at the waist and then attached them to the skirt as one.  No one but me (and now you) will ever know.  I also added clear elastic to the neck edges, serged the edges, and then turned them under and top stitched with a twin needle.

I love the way the dress turned out.  It has a sort of disco vibe to it with the mock wrap bodice in the front and the back, and the full, swingy skirt.  The skirt is perfect, too.  It has just enough swish to it to make it fun to wear without being "too much."  Oh, one other little change I made was to cut the skirt back on the fold, rather than with a CB seam as the pattern called for.  I had plenty of fabric, so why not?
 

The pattern itself was pretty easy to put together.  I think one of the reasons I waited years to make this was because I thought it would be hard to make it in a knit.  That and I needed the right fabric.  But I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly and easily it went together.  I could easily see myself making this again if I needed a new dress in a hurry.
  

Yes, that's a hay bale.  It was crazy hot this afternoon and after walking all over that field in high heels, I needed to rest. 

I also finished up the Burda sheath dress this weekend.  Unfortunately, I was too hot to go change and do the photo shoot thing all over again.  And besides, the Burda dress wasn't quite as successful as this dress, so I'm saving it for another post.

How is your summer sewing going?

McCall's 6279: The Trench Dress

I finally finished M6279.  And it's only taken me a month to complete it.

This is view C, the version with the full collar, elbow length puffed sleeves, and the self fabric belt from view A/B.

I used a dark wash denim with a bit of stretch that I was lucky enough to find at my local Walmart.  All the topstitching was done with khaki thread, and the buttons are antique "brass."
 

I cut a size 14 through the shoulders and eased out to a 16 at the bust. 

Pattern adjustments included: 
     5/8" princess FBA
     1 and 1/8" of length added at waist
     3" of length added to skirt
     1" of length removed from sleeve
     1/2" of length removed from cuff
     3/4" added to cuff circumference

I'm pretty pleased with the final results.  The dress fits well, seems comfortable, and is office appropriate.  I went ahead and made the belt to go with it, but I plan to shop for something else.  I pictured it all along with a leather, or woven belt, I just haven't found what I had in mind yet.

The sleeves on this dress are pretty puffy.  Normally I don't mind a puffed sleeve- I like to draw attention to my shoulders and above, but these are pushing it.  Especially in the denim fabric, which has a lot of body.  I ended up pressing the gathers down, and they are still rather "boisterous" as you can see in the photos.

I also shortened the sleeves a total of 1.5 inches.  I think it would have looked better if I'd removed about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch more.  The bottom of the cuff hits me just below the bend of my elbow and tends to get bent up when I bend my arm.

I added 3/4" to the cuff circumference so they wouldn't bind.  They look like they are plenty wide enough in the photos, in fact they look downright loose.  But my arms are quite heavy and I promise, the cuffs just fit at the top where they are attached to the sleeves.

All in all, I'm happy with this project.  The pattern was drafted well, the instructions were good, and the dress turned out quite nice.  I might even make this again.  I'd love to try view A with the stand-up collar and epaulets.  I think I'd substitute a plain, short sleeve, and maybe even add some pockets in the side seams.  As it is, this dress should work nicely for summer and right on into fall.

Now that this project is done, it's back to work on the Burda sheath dress. 

How is your summer sewing going?

I'm Workin' On It

 I really am working on M6279.  On and off at least.  Seriously, it's almost done.  All I have left to do is sew buttons on and clip a few loose threads and it will be ready for road testing.

Here you can see the topstitching on the sleeve cuff, and the antique metal buttons I chose.  I hope to have it done and maybe get some photos tomorrow.

In the meantime, I've been working so slow on this project.  My mojo has been playing peek-a-boo with me lately.  And what better way to jumpstart the mojo than to buy more fabric?

So yesterday I made a trip to Hancock Fabrics and picked up this pretty, fuchsia "silk look" fabric.  I'm pretty sure it's poly, since it was only $4.95/yd and the end of the bolt said it was machine washable.  Why they couldn't include the fiber content, I'm not sure.  I have Butterick 5638 in mind for it.  I've been wanting this color to make the pink view with the wide belt.  I had hoped to find a poplin, or something similar, but this fabric might work.  We'll see...
  

I also picked up this linen/rayon/lurex blend.  You can't see the silver sparkle in the photo, but it's there.  This should be a joy to press, no?  Anyway, I'm thinking the wide leg pants from Simplicity 3756, which I have made before with good results. 

Of course, I need to finish the trench dress first, and the Burda sheath dress, which, I think it's safe to say, qualifies as a UFO now.  If only my mojo will cooperate...

How is your summer sewing going?
   

Fickle

So I hit a snag with the Burda dress- no zipper in the stash.  While I was waiting to make a trip to the "local" (sixty some odd miles away) fabric store, I found a nice, dark wash stretch denim at my local Walmart of all places.  (Yeah, apparently they can get nice denim, but they can't stock an invisible zipper in any color other than black or white.)

The denim came home with me, and I decided to go ahead and cut out McCall's 6279:

I fell in love with this pattern when it came out last year, but I never got a chance to make it up.  Yes, I'm making the blue one with sleeves in the lower right corner.  I had to make a FBA, lengthen the waist, and add an additional 3" of length to the skirt, which, as you can see in the photo, is drafted rather short.  The sleeves, however, had to be shortened by 1" and the rather wide cuffs also had to be decreased by 1/2".  (Just call me T-rex!)

Of course, it just wouldn't be right if I didn't run into some kind of problem with a project.  Sigh...  I cut out the whole dress, smug with myself for getting all the pieces cut with no fabric to spare.  But when I carried everything back to the sewing room (I cut on my living room floor) I found, to my horror, that I had dropped the yoke and collar pattern pieces on the floor on my way to the living room and they did not get cut!  And I had no more fabric!!!  So the next day I made an emergency run back to Walmart, and thankfully they still had plenty of the same denim.  I bought another 1/2 yard and pre-washed it and cut those pieces out later that night after work.  How I missed them in the first place while I was laying everything out, I don't know.  But all's well that ends well, right?

Everything is going smoothly now.  I have begun putting things together and topstitching my seams:

I chose a khaki thread for the top stitching.  I think it shows up great and looks good against the dark blue denim.  Plus, it coordinates with both sets of buttons I bought for this dress- plain, dark blue plastic like the pattern drawing, and a prettier, more interesting antique brass look set.  I will wait to decide which ones I will use until I at least get to the point I can try the dress on.  Right now I'm leaning toward the antique brass, but they are only 3/4" and the pattern calls for 1" buttons.  I'm afraid they may be too small.

I was finally able to get to the fabric store this past weekend, and I picked up a zipper for the Burda dress, so now I have two active projects going.  Hopefully I will have at least one finished project very soon.  It's been awhile since I've had one of those, and I've almost forgotten what it feels like!

Today is Friday, thank goodness, and I plan to get lots of sewing done this weekend.  How about you?  Any big sewing plans for the weekend?

Dress Update

Dress #131 from the February Burda Style is under way.  I made a muslin last weekend to check the fit and it was surprisingly successful on the first try.  I traced a straight size 44 and then graded down to a 42 through the shoulders.  I also folded out 3/8" across the bodice above the bust and added 1 and 1/8" of length to the waist.  It looked pretty good, except...

The shoulders/straps on this pattern are very wide-set.  This may be great for certain body types, but not for me.  I can only imagine that Burda was going for a romantic, wide neckline to maybe show off some pretty collarbones or maybe a lovely necklace.  For me, however, the wide neckline is unpractical- it would be necessary to wear a strapless bra, which I could do...

But the neckline was also unflattering.  The straps came all the way out to the edge of my shoulders, which hid the actual shoulder point and made my shoulders seem somewhat rounded, which in turn emphasized my heavy upper arms. 

I still loved the seam lines, though, and I had already gone to all the trouble to trace the darn thing, so I decided to do a little experiment.  I cut off the tops of the center front, side front, and side back pattern pieces, and moved them all in toward the center by 1 whole inch. 

Here you can see the CF piece.  The straight vertical line to the right of the fabric fold is the "old CF line":

Here is the side front piece.  You can also see my FBA and petite adjustments:

And, finally, the side back:

The first muslin also indicated that I needed a FBA and more length at the waist, so I did a 1/2" princess FBA, and added another 1/2" of length to the waist.  This pattern must be drafted for the short waisted.  I ended up adding a total of 1 and 5/8" at the waist, which is a lot, even for me.  Oh, and I raised the neckline on the CF piece by 5/8".

Muslin #2 looked pretty good, so I went ahead and cut out my fashion fabric, a coral/orange stretch jacquard, which you can see in the photos above.  The dress is completely basted together and fits pretty well.  I'm stuck, though, since I don't have a suitable invisible zipper in my stash (story of my life) and won't have a chance to go get one until next weekend.  (Grrrrr)  Oh well, I can still take it apart and start finishing seams (I plan to serge) and prep the zipper area with interfacing. 

The pattern calls for a lining, but I doubt I will make one.  My fabric is opaque and I am a slip lover.  There are also facing pieces for the neck/armhole area, but I'll have to make new ones since my pattern adjustments changed the shape so dramatically.  Or... I could just finish the neck and armholes with bias binding, which I probably will do since it will be easier and neater, in my opinion.

Meanwhile, while I wait to go on a zipper run, I have a couple of pairs of pants just waiting for finishing touches.  One pair just needs a hem to be wearable, so I might as well go ahead and finish them.  I also picked up a couple of really nice fabrics yesterday at my local Walmart of all places.  I'm not sure what's going on over there.  They had downsized and rearranged their fabric department like most other stores, and it was mostly just cheap quilting cottons and a handful of ugly home dec fabrics.  But suddenly they have three aisles of fabric, and some of it is really nice!  I picked up a sweet piece of dark wash denim (yes, we'll have to wait and see how nice it is after pre-washing) and a pretty piece of poly suiting in an unusual taupe/brown color that will make a nice pair of pants for the office.  Now if they would just get a decent stock of zippers!

I'm Back and I'm Itching to Sew

I'm back from my month long business trip to the Philippines, and I am itching to sew. I left several UFOs on the ironing board when I left and I could pick up any one of them now, but I really want to start something new from scratch. So I pulled out the last few issues of Burda Style and I decided to get back into the sewing swing with this one, Dress #131 from the February plus section:

It's a simple little princess sheath with some interesting seaming. I love the way the front seams flare out to the sides. And check out that back. Once again, subtle, but I think that the design will be quite flattering.

I really don't understand why this dress didn't get any love on the blogs or boards when this issue came out. Could it be because you can't tell anything about it at all in the magazine photo:

You can't see any of the seams, which in my opinion is what makes the dress. Also, the color is drab and having the model posed like that on the bed not only obscures the dress, but makes it seem like it's supposed to be a nightgown or a house smock. You really have to see the tech drawing to get any sense of this one at all.

Burda also offered a coordinating jacket in the same issue, #129:

Once again, the design is subtle, with long darts in front and an inverted pleat in the back. I'll definitely need a muslin, if for nothing else than to get the sleeve length exactly right for my little T-rex arms and to make sure I'm happy with the slight flare to the sleeves. I may want to straighten them.

So that's my plan for my first official spring project. What are your spring/summer sewing plans? Are there any other patterns out there that you just love, but you don't think they've gotten the attention they deserve?

I Haven't Fallen Off the Face of the Earth...

Wow. Long time, no post. There have been no sewing related activities for the past several weeks. That's because I've been preparing for a trip, traveling, and now I'm at my destination.


I'm currently in Manila, Philippines:

It's great here. The temperature is warm and the humidity is just right.

Although I haven't sewn anything lately, I am so glad I made all those knit dresses last summer because that's about all I packed for the trip and it's worked out great.

I've got two weeks to go here and then it's back home. I can't wait to get my hands on my sewing machine! I left a project all cut out and ready to go on my ironing board. And it's time to turn my attention to spring and summer sewing- my favorite!

How is your spring sewing going?