BurdaStyle 12/2018 # 107 Wrap look dress

The sun is shining today here after a stretch of gloomy weather, so I plan to get outside and do a bit of garden cleanup. It was in the 30's℉ last night but I think winter will swiftly depart so any winter sewing needs to be accomplished soon. (Hurrah - summer sewing ahead!)  I saw this dress in the December Burda magazine and perhaps it was the color in their version that appealed to me, also the fact that it looks like a wrap dress but it's actually not. Which makes it easier to wear and fit.

So I traced it out, sewed it up and while I like the dress I probably won't wear it much. Or ever. I think I'll end up taking off the sleeves, or giving it to a friend. The thing about thin jersey long sleeved dresses is that they just don't work all that well for me. I'm always cold so they are just not warm enough and then once our winter is over they are useless to me. But I do like the color and the shape is reminiscent of some of my favorite knit tops. I think it will go in the magic closet for a while.




I bought this fabric the week after Christmas at Joann's when they had a super sale. I went in there for a few things but ended up buying a bunch of different fabrics for bargain prices. This was maybe $ 4 per yard after coupons etc. I still have a good 1.5 yards left so it will probably be a summer knit top.



Here's the Burda magazine photo from their website. The pattern is also available as a PDF download here.  Before I subscribed I used some of these PDF single purchase patterns and sometimes when I'm tracing I'm actually tempted to do it again :) Actually practice makes it easier - once you have traced a few you get the hang of it and know to look for the notches, grainlines, etc.


In their version I think they have used a thicker knit which I don't like as much, the waist drape part looks a little bulky to me.

Here's the technical drawing. Which is really all I look at when deciding on a pattern. This knit dress has bust darts which make for nice shaping and in a stable knit are probably quite necessary.



Sewing details: I omitted the center back zipper as my fabric was quite stretchy so I could get it over my head and shoulders without it. I think sewing the zipper in that gathered section at the center back would not be fun! but to get it to fit around the waist it does need to fit rather snugly. It also had some gathering at the top of the center back neck part which I skipped as well.

Here's a look at the inside back. The shaping is achieved by a base layer inside which you sew the gathered overlay to, and then you attach the skirt and upper part to that. I sewed the whole front and whole back (as is my habit) and then I stitched up the side seams last, and took it in about 1/4" on each side to get a snug fit at the waist.



I used a knit for the inside, but it is less stretchy than the jersey, so it was good for the base layer. And note - I never use a serger on knits - I really don't care how the inside seam allowances look and they don't unravel so not a concern. I did take in the center back upper bodice a good bit as well, I cut a size 38 in the upper bodice which is mostly fine but typically I take everything in from waist to neckline at the center back (also have to do the same on Vogue, Mccalls etc).




There's the inside front, you can see I took in the side seams about 1/4" more after the first try-on. Also the center front bodice was a bit long, and kind of sagged at the waist, so detached it about 6" across the center front and pulled the wrap portions down a bit and restitched, taking out about 1/2" there in length. Any dress or top with a wrap neckline is likely to need some adjustment and there are a few things you can do even after cutting it out. I wrote a blog post on this topic on the old Craftsy sewing blog - they have migrated those old blogposts to the Blueprint site and the links I have on my own blog still work. Here's the one about Adjusting a Wrap Dress Neckline. 




If you look closely you can see the center front seam of the waist rises up slightly on the dress form but I think when worn it settles in the right place. This is also an accurate version of the color of this fabric. My biggest difficulty lately with blogging and photography is getting the photos to show the fabric color correctly. Of course taking pictures at all times of day and night plus sunny or cloudy weather means I have a multitude of shades of each fabric. Kind of annoying.

This dress started out about 4 inches longer which for me just feels dowdy. So I cut off 4 inches and it's ok now. I didn't hem the skirt, and I think I'm going to leave it that way. You can't see that it's not sewn and since it won't unravel I will leave it as I like the length now












I'm including this picture because I laughed a bit when I looked closely at it. I decided to take photos of this dress, the light was just right outside. In the 5 minutes it took to put it on and go out there the sky opened up and it was pouring hail, plus thunder and lightening. Which rarely happens here!



I wanted to see how this coat looked with the dress, since the color match is so good. I bought this coat ages ago in Italy and I actually don't wear it often, maybe I haven't worn it for 2-3 years. The other day I was thinking I might cut it off and make it into a jacket, then I might get more use from it. The leather is really nice quality but it's a thin coat so not really suitable as a coat - more of a fashion item.

So that's the latest on my Burda Magazine sewing. I just traced a shirt pattern from the January issue (this one)  and it is easy-peasy to sew. I have started stitching it up in a mystery fabric I got for free at a swap which might be a wool challis. Anyway it is a different color palette for me but so far I like it.

Yesterday Heather came by to pick up her wool blazer, so I have a ton of photos to edit and upload for that blog post which I will start on this week. I loved making that - you know tailored jackets are my favorite thing to sew and combine that with gorgeous wool from Britex, ❤️💜❤️. I made version one of this jacket for her back in December, and here's the blog post on all the details for that, which is McCalls 6172, a pattern I highly recommend. Also I posted a lot of in-progress pictures in my Instagram stories and then saved it to a Highlight titled "wool blazer" so you can see sewing details there. But a blog post soon.

Here's a little sneak peek.



So that's some of the latest sewing. I finished a silk charmeuse shirt for myself, and then while waiting for Heather to come by for a final fitting (she caught that respiratory bug that hit so many people) I sewed up another version of the Pauline Alice Saler Jacket for myself. I tell ya, jacket sewing I can't resist. So lots of things to blog.




Happy winter sewing, 
Beth

today's garden photo, yes we have daffodils. And tulips on the way.