Friday 11 January 2013

Burda Style 05-2011-114 bishop blouse makeover

I am so behind with writing about my sewing. Here is the second of 3 tops I made to take camping, back in December,

Mine is the one on the left. It was made due to pure envy at the versatility, quick drying nature, reported coolness in wearing and glamper appearance of the RTW top on the right, which belongs to my older daughter, and is a well travelled top.

SDC10143

My version started with the pattern Burda Style 05-2011-114,
 which is a mini dress that falls off the shoulder at the beach,
 so naturally required some revision before making a debut as a sun protective blouse to be worn whilst hiking by a mother-of-teenagers.

The fabrics are a generous left over from a favourite summer dress ( cream pink/red print lawn bought in London, 2010), and a less generous left over from another favourite summer dress ( red patterned silk). I seem to sew in a co-ordinating palette even when I am making stand alone garments.

In cutting out, I raised the neckline by about 5cm, and lengthened the upper section of the dress as much as my fabric would allow - which was about 10cm less than I would have liked, at the body, and forced inspired me to use 5/8 long sleeves rather than full length.

DSC00238

The RTW inspiration has a double gathered neckline, through 2 externally applied casings, one with elastic, and  one with elastic at the back, drawstring at the front. This makes the neckline of the blouse highly adjustable, and more flattering than the average bishop style blouse.
Being rather cocky, I thought this garment would be very quick to sew - raglan sleeves, no fitting, etc, etc, but the casing application (bias cut strips of silk) turned out to be very tricky. The original blouse applied the casing over a partially gathered neckline. Copying this took about 20 minutes. Then this casing was used to gather the neckline further, and the second casing was applied over the even more gathered neckline. Keeping the gathering well distributed whilst also keeping the casing equidistant from the first application required serious pinning and about an hour of sewing (there may have been some unpicking at this stage). This slow sewing was compounded by my original application of a pale pink shirting fabric as casing number 1. This looked insipid, so I replaced it with the deep red.

The waist gathering casing was applied with self fabric bias cord just above the natural waist, after I worked out that the blouse tucked into my A line hiking skirt had a rapid untucking action, and that no waistline is not a good look for me in a voluminous top. I was rather pleased with the on trend peplum look this gave the blouse.

I wore this walking several times during our trip to Tasmania, and it was cool, sun protective, and washed and dried quickly, but I am not 100% happy with it. Maybe it is too fussy for camping and hiking? I do like having more feminine clothes for outdoor activities than are available in RTW, but possibly this blouse takes  this tendency too far.

IMG_0839

I think it would look better with a straight skirt, and even I have to admit that  a straight skirt is not a particularly practical garment for hiking.


11 comments:

liza jane said...

I think it would look great with jeans, too. Such a lovely blouse for hiking, but I can see why you chose to make it. I love the way the bottom makes a small peplum. Very flattering and very pretty!

Anonymous said...

What a great hiking look! I like to wear skirts hiking, too. FWIW, I don't think it's too much.

Chris Lucas said...

This top looks great! I too love light and airy clothes as it gets so hot here in Port Hedland. I love how you adapted the pattern to be able to make this up with the amount of fabric you had on hand :)

Steph A said...

It looks lovely, and the amount of work involved is impressive. It sounds great for hiking! Why not!!

pdiddly said...

great tops - I looked at this pattern in the magazine and thought how nice it was.

Judith said...

You have just moved boring hiking clothes to a whole new level! This looks super on you...love the colour, and practicality of this top...

Joy said...

I think you have reached the pinnacle of hiking stylishly!

The blouse is quite lovely! I wonder if have that Burda issue...

Carol said...

What a great blouse for bushwalking. I agree with Joy; you've cornered the market in stylish, feminine hiking clothing.

fabric epiphanies said...

It is rather dressy but who says you can't look stylish in the bush! In the heat we have been having staying cool is the most important thing and this top looks really cool to wear while providing sun protection at the same time. It will look great as street wer as well.

The Slapdash Sewist said...

I'm glad I'm not the only one who likes to look a little fancy, even when hiking! With all the technical fabrics being produced nowadays, I feel that cotton is sorely overlooked as a wonderful outdoor fabric. This is perfect! Love the contrast red bands.

Anonymous said...

I like your version better-the fabric is really pretty too. You could wear it with cut off pants/ capris as well.