A dress to wear to a wedding, Burda Style 10- 2012-118, or is it BurdaStyle 02-2021-119?

 I am making a Maid of Honour dress for my older daughter. In this modern relaxed Australian wedding each female member of the wedding party is given guidelines by the bride,  rather than detailed instructions or a particular dress to buy/have made. This is very exciting, as I was able to look at hundreds of beautiful fabrics and elegant patterns with the excuse of research to present to my daughter. We just have a colour palette, and the length of the dress as a framework.

 

This dress here is not the Maid of Honour dress, but it is a stage in the process, and I did make it for my daughter.

Before making the above dress there was some delightful mutual and individual time wasting perusal of many fabrics  and dress photographs on the internet. Eventually I had to stop doing this as my daughter showed me a photograph of a dress that she fancies as a starting point. She apologised that is not the fabric she wants, not in the right colour palette and not the right length for the wedding, and that she didn't want a seam across the front bodice.. This was not displeasing, as my daughter kept saying things like " If I find the right dress I'll just buy it". which is not what a person whom has hardly sewn party clothes for about 2 and 1/2 years now wants to hear.

We thought that we could reproduce the salient aspects with some judicious pattern alteration of  this pattern for a woven knee length dress from Burda Style  10-2012-118, which I have made previously for myself as both a dress and a top.

 The brief from my daughter is to modify the pattern for an extended shoulder, and to make the dress floor length for the wedding, and to possibly  make a bolero.

I was a tiny bit worried that I was being hopelessly out of date here, this being a 10 year old pattern, but  Audrey of SewTawdry posted not so long ago that this pattern is very similar to a 2021 offering, with identical line drawings, so if Burda thinks it is up to date (ish), I am happy. (Audrey's top in plaid is amazing)

Naturally I needed to make a trial version before we cut into precious pricey fabric. Naturally my daughter felt that if I was going to all the trouble of making a trial version, she might as well wear the trial version when she was to attend the wedding of a close friend, as a guest, not in the bridal party.

So here is version 1, in a cocktail wedding guest length, in situ at her friend's wedding.

 

The fabric is from a sari that I  bought in Sri Lanka several years ago, to wear to a family friend's wedding there. I really enjoyed having the opportunity to wear a sari. The little blouse was made by a  seamstress in Columbo from one end of the sari that is woven with the blouse in mind. It was interesting to see how the seamstress drew the pattern straight on the fabric after taking a few measurements.

I am equally pleased to be able to use the sari to make a pretty dress.

 You can see that my daughter and Ihave chosen the reverse side of the sari to be the outer side of the dress. We thought that the fabric was silk, and it is certainly silky, but after I managed to melt a lot of the warp fibres in ironing, we now feel that it is a poly silk blend. Once I had removed the highly embellished borders from the sari, it was quite narrow, and I used most of the fabric of the sari to cut out the knee length dress. As it frayed immoderately, and is a very thin fabric, I chose to underline with enclosed seams, using a poly cotton imperial batiste, and unfortunately had not already cut extra wide seam allowances to allow for the turn of fabric, so I was quite nervous that I might have made the dress too small, not having enough fabric left to cut out another full dress length panel.

Fortunately this was not the case and I did not even have to let out the seam allowances at the final (and only) fitting. My daughter lives about two and a half thousand kilometres away from me, but was coming to Brisbane ( a mere few hundred kilometres away) the day before the wedding. I was to hem it in Brisbane, so it was just as well that I was planning to do this by hand, as I didn't fancy lugging my machine to the flat shared by our other offspring. 

It may have been finished just before she dashed off to the wedding, sans photographs, which is why you should forgive me for the slightly blurry phone shot taken by another of my daughter's friends who may have been drinking bubbly. I have delayed writing this post until a later visit, when the dress was modelled for sewing blog purposes.

Notes to myself: Add lingerie straps to assist in holding the cowl neckline, and an internal and external stay for the waistline pleats.

A rag coat. The perils of being a brand name fabric tragic Burda Style 10-2012-102

In my more self congratulatory moments, I like to think that I am at the not-terribly-involved end of the consumer culture bell curve, after all, I like to make things, grow things, cook from scratch and do-it-myself.

However, this is one big self delusion, particularly when it comes to fabric acquisition, because somehow, when a fabric is called "Liberty" or  or "Linton Tweed", all of a sudden it becomes remarkably more attractive. Even worse," used by Donna Karan" "end of roll from Lisa Ho" or "used by Chanel" has the same sort of aura despite the fact that neither I, nor anyone I associate with would recognize these fabrics as "designer" unless told so ! What can I say? Marketing techniques work.
Imagine then, my weakness when Gorgeous Fabrics had some "used by Chanel knit", in a sale no less. It leapt out at me in a weak moment.

 

Buyers remorse struck as soon as the horrific total hit my fabric enthralled brain, but it was too late, and worse, I had bought 2 full yards -the jacket of my fevered imagination needing 1.25 yards and the website selling full yards only. 
Despite a rather guilty feeling, I was determined to do this fabric justice.II picked out the pattern and ordered a selection of zips from Zipperstop in colours I thought would look pretty good (I love the Pantone numbers on the Gorgeous Fabrics site, allowing this sort of pre planning).
When the fabric arrived, none of my other fabrics were quite the right colour for the trim, so I held a yarn audition and knit a nice wide piece in moss stitch in a variegated grey, a bit time consuming, but worth it, I told myself, for this fancy project. I picked out a nice stretch silk to line the jacket and was all set for a muslin.

The muslin was in polarfleece, this having approximately the same thickness and stretch as the real deal fabric, and I thought I might get a useful running jacket from my trial.
The muslin, was possibly the most ill fitting and unattractive thing I have ever made from Burda - clearly not suitable for my magic fabric.
Whilst I was mourning my pattern failure  inappropriateness.  I decided to get the fabric out and see if I could wash it (100% wool) which would increase my pattern options
I already knew the fabric was quite unusual in construction,very interesting, with an almost roving texture of yarn on a very fine and open knit mesh- like base on one side and a stocking stitch texture on the other
, but what I had not seen before this up close and personal inspection were the holes, clearly ravelling even as I held the fabric up against the light to inspect it.

Holes.
I did not contact Gorgeous Fabrics about this. I have never had trouble with fabric from this source before, and the service has always been excellent. Probably I should have, but I didn't - by the time anything was sorted, if it were sorted, and not eaten up by the postage costs between the USA and Australia, the weather here would be hot and un-woolly-knit suitable, and I was pretty sure that Ann had not gone around snipping holes in her fabrics.

I was in a very cross state inspired by my double disappointment - the fabric was toast, the pattern was toast, and all of a sudden, I could try anything with this  raggy old fabric.

1. I mended the holes. Darning is a skill of my mis-spent youth, and I happened to have some recycled mohair-merino yarn in just the right green. I then hand washed the fabric and lay it out flat on towels to dry -no more holes appeared, a win!

2. I picked an easy looking pattern, that used 2 yards of fabric - I didn't want this lying around leering at me in my stash reminding me of my bad sewing weekend. From my magazine collection, but also available here,  Burda Style 10-2012-102 - No one had reviewed this at pattern review (or the nearly the same 101 nor 103), but I Did Not Care.

 I decided to use the fancy poufy side of the fabric as the "wrong" side that makes up the extravagant collar and started cutting.

(I found a very cool version of the coat here at Dottiedoodle though..and a nice new-to-me sewing blog to look at, bonus!t)

3. I didn't  even make a muslin. Bad me.

4. I cut up an old merino rib knit top of my husband's to semi line the back and the outer fronts over the bust (the pattern is unlined) - not wasting any stretch silk on this old rag! The old knit top has some holes that look suspiciously like welding burns all over the front, even though a certain person claims to never wear his hand made clothes for welding..... Good to use up some more rags though. I felt that the fabric needed some support in stress areas.

To prevent sitting-down/reaching forward damage to the fabric, I not only lined it to mid thigh at the back, but added an inverted pleat, stitched down at the neck and the waist.

 Although the fabric is quite bulky, this gives some shape, although unfortunately not miraculous visual slimness, to this otherwise boxy cut.

5.I finished the inner seams with zigzag stitch on the machine (my overlocker hated the fabric and went into a 3 day sulk after being introduced to it briefly).

I hemmed and edged the coat by hand using the same knitting yarn  as I did for the darns, in catch stitch, for the stretchy properties of this stitch. No couture techniques for my rag coat. (You can see in the first photo where I forgot to turn the cuff down after taking inside photos of my rough hemming)
The pattern instructions say not to hem (their mohair knit), or if you want to hem, to add 2cm. I added the 2cm, but when I came to the fronts, realized that due to the wrong side of the fabric being the collar, the hem would have to switch sides somewhere along the front edges. Instead of doing this, I left in the mitred corner at the inside of the bottom hem, giving a rounded front lower edge, but otherwise left the collar and front edges raw, which makes me feel like a sewing rebel.

6. Actually, on returning to the coat later in the week, I had forgiven it slightly, and bound the neck seam, which might be visible if I were to take it off and hang it up somewhere in public, with bias silk duchess satin, which I just happened to have lying around in forest green. (My daughter's formal dress )

7. Having developed a mild affection for the coat by this stage,  I was concerned that the fastening would pull the fabric apart. I chose not to use snaps as instructed in the pattern, as these encourage pulling, that being how you undo them, and backed the button region and the loop fastening region with scraps of the bias satin, and extra buttons to support the outer ones.

You can't see the buttons when the coat is fastened, but I rather like the look of them, almost brooch like, when the coat is worn open.

5. Amazingly, the resulting coat is remarkably pleasing to me, even though it looks nothing like my original idea. It is very warm, and I can throw it on over jeans or even my knit dress.

In fact, I think it looks much more practical than Karl's use of the fabric - March 2009. No wonder the fabric has holes in it, Karl has had it lying around for years!

Hmm, maybe I could make a silly looking hat with the scraps Oh, wait, I already have a green silly hat ;) A Chanel fabric pencil case maybe.......

Stashbusting Statistics
Dismal failure, fabric both newly purchased and expensive.
I will wear my nice woolly coat whilst I walk to work for the remaining frosty mornings of winter in order to assuage my conscience.

Burda Style tops 10-2012-118 and 10-2012-114, Wardrobe Sewing

Thank you for the kind comments about the SWAP for my daughter. At the tail end of making that two capsule collection, I have also been making a wardrobe capsule for myself, inspired by my new favourite skirt, the red denim Biegnet via Paola. I am finding it fairly tricky.

I am using EJVC's "summer" 6PAC  (now running at the USA based Stitcher's Guild as a sewalong) as my basis for this  subtropical autumn/winter capsule.

EJVC's plan is:
1 a jacket or cardigan that will set the tone for the whole collection - in neutral
2 a pair of trousers or shorts or a skirt in the same neutral (but not necessarily EXACTLY the same -- can vary in shade or texture)
3 another bottom in the second colour
4 an underlayer top in the neutral
5 an underlayer top in the colour
6 an overlayer top in a linking print or in the colour 



As I must regretfully admit that I would not feel at all comfortable in a pair of red trousers, this being EJVC's excellent criteria for chosing a neutral, I have probably started with item 3 - another bottom in the second colour, and am considering this latest  top as number 5, as it is nearly red,
After this latest top, I am thinking that picking red for a second colour, which according to the plan should be chosen as if it could be a "neutral" was not a good idea for my personal style, which tends more to the understated and un-noticeable. This style could also be called dowdy and boring, so I am wary of my natural tendencies to tree and dirt colours  ;).

 The top pattern is Burda Style 10-2012-118A, I had previously made the dress version, so I was too lazy to check the adjustments did not have to do too much adjusting (this is probably why it is slightly too tight across the bust, sigh). I cut the sleeves on the bias for ease of wear, but shorter than the pattern, due to fabric limitations. 

I did make earlier a purely red t shirt from Burda 10-2012-114, just to see if I could bear it as an outfit with the red skirt but it was far too post box (these are red in Australia)  for me to wear in real life, although the teenage fashion panel think it could work with a contrasting jacket, scarf and stockings.

 Instead I wear it with my printed denim skirt, but this is not a  t shirt pattern I will be making again unless I get rid of the stomach ruching which I find unflattering.

So now the problem is, from what neutral should I make the cardigan/jacket and other skirt?
What earthy neutral looks good with red and can be worn as trousers? I may need to abandon the plan.


Stashbusting statistics 1.3m rayon charmeuse, The Fabric Store, Surrey Hills 2009 - strangely, the fabric I used for the dress version of the pattern was from the same purchase. Maybe I just have a 3-4 year maturing rate in my stash?
+1m of cotton with lycra jersey, Stretchtex, 2012, which contradicts my maturing rate theory.

Burda Style 10-2012- 118A silk dress

I don't often sew dressed - up clothes, so it was very exciting to be exploring my excessive extensive collection of silks for an occasion dress.


 My fancy lit on a stash lurking scant 2m of a reversible brocade type silk I had bought from The Fabric Store in Surrey Hills about 3 years ago. This fabric is an unusual colour palette for me - duck egg blue and gold, but I fell in love with the lustre and reversible pattern, and could not resist it despite its high price and pattern-limiting narrowness. I am a weak woman when it comes to fabric.

 To rebuke me for my weakness, this fabric had starting looking at me from the stash with a superior, you-can't-cut-me attitude. Obviously it wanted to be a badly sewn cushion in 50 years or so after someone bought it in a deceased estate sale for 75c. I don't like this sort of attitude from my fabric, so it was time I used it.

 After putting aside several patterns with fabric requirements beyond my fabric wrestling and pattern layout skills, I decided on this dress 118A from Burda Style 10-2012,

which I had seen beautifully made up by AllisonC and Kristy (that composite photo is straight from her blog as the Burda site was not behaving, so credit to Kristy for the photo).I put the front bodice on the bias, as this had worked so nicely for these ladies' excellent versions.

Unfortunately, my toile showed me that I needed a FBA (as usual, I must be an incurable optimist) despite the lovely drapy cowl - in the bias section. It took quite a bit of measuring to make a slash and spread FBA with bust points at the same level due to the bias cut and side gathering, but overall, the fitting was pretty easy for this dress, with only my usual Burda adjustments in petiting the waist, squaring the shoulders, making an upright posture adjustment at the back neck and shoulders and a generous backside adjustment - this time by merely tapering out the centre back seam. The dress is also about 7 cm shorter than Burda's to finish at my knees, which have less leg length attached to them than a Burda model, and has an added back kick pleat. The top is 38, the skirt front 40 and the skirt back 42. You can see why I can't buy a sheath dress in RTW, even if I wanted too ;)

 The sleeves are those psuedo cap sleeves that don't cover the armscye. I do not usually like this style of sleeve, due to the unecessarily emphasising back view of the armpit they often offer, but I did not have enough fabric for a full cap sleeve, and having the dress sleeveless looked too casual.

 I drew these myself, with back arm pit coverage aims, after looking at the add a sleeve article in the latest Threads, but chose to shape the top of the sleeve like other Burda sleeves, rather than having the front and back curve identical. Not having enough fabric for a full lining, I applied a wide strip of bias to the inside by hand so that no glimpses of white silk organza could be seen whilst the dress was worn. I have also extended the back facing to below the armscye to stabilize the back, and because I don't like skinny facings. In retrospect,I should have saved some of this fabric for the sleeves, but originally, I was making a sleeveless dress.
 
 I cut the front bias facing of the cowl seperately from the dress, from the other side of the fabric, as I wanted the reverse side of the fabric to show at the neckline. Did I mention that I love the reversible nature of this fabric ?
 I piped the sleeve hem in the reversed side of the fabric as well. I like these details, which I feel show off the fabric nicely. In construction, I followed the underlining with silk organza techniques from Susan Khaljie's couture dress class at Craftsy, including all the hand basting. I found that the silk organza underlining made the cowl too stiff, and cut this away from the garment in this area.
 

 The underlining made it very easy to sew an invizible hem, but I had a bit of trouble with rippling in the very curvy back seams. This rippling steamed out nicely, but is unfortunately visible in some of the photographs, like the back view. Sigh.

The gathering at the waist can sit very nicely, but you can see in these photographs, that after you have been sitting for a while and stand up again, all the gathers seem to collect in one big fold, which does not look as pretty. If I made this dress again, I would gather the side section across a wider area, so that they were more evenly distributed over the waist of the garment rather than collected into the current 5cm section in the side seam.

 I wore this dress to my daughter's high school graduation, where the graduands wear formal dress and the parents wear cocktail, which is a slightly unusual dress code. The dress was suitable, comfortable and not too hot for a mid November evening in the subtropics. I hope I can wear it again (see my co-ordinating and impractical shoes? I need to wear this again so as not to feel guilty about the $), and I am pretty sure I will make a more casual version from this relatively easy pattern.
Now I am wondering if I can get away with hand washing this dress. Dry cleaning smells so nasty...... Just wait for my howls of agony when it shrinks and spots.