Saturday, November 27, 2010

A dress for any occasion: Burda 05-2009-117

Now that I've figured out that I'm truly able Burda size 36 rather than a size 38 with endless petite adjustments needed* I whipped up two dresses this month.  This is the first of them, and I love it.  I'm seriously thinking of making it again in the spring with a solid fabric to show off the constructions lines and front drape.  This is a cotton printed stretch sateen from Gorgeous Fabrics.  It was a delight to sew, and unfortunately for anyone who may feel inspired to search for it... all sold out.

Hopefully I will one day have a job where I can wear this to work, but until then I'm happy to wear it to dinner, a wedding, a funeral, or even a work cocktail reception (which I did a few weeks ago.)  It's flattering, a discreet length, the surplice bodice follows your chest so that there's no peekaboo, and all it needs is a red belt.  I have no belts, but that problem (and the red belt issue) is going to be solved shortly.  The only changes I made were to shorten the skirt by 2" and move the zipper from the center back to the side.  I really like having zips on the side if the design allows, because I find zipping up the last 2" of a back zipper can be tricky and I don't really care for having a seam down my back.



Burda 05-2009-117
 The construction lines are pretty great, aren't they?  I'm not going to lie.  The front and back princess seam godets were a little tricky, I found that it was best to sew from the point down and then clip to the stitching to make everything lay flat.

*In an upcoming, whining post (don't say I didn't warn you!) I will complain about the difference between the Burda "half size petite patterns" and Burda full size patterns that supposedly have the same measurements but result in completely different fits.

13 comments:

  1. Gorgeous dress and it fits you perfectly.

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  2. That dress is so pretty and you did a great job on the fit too.

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  3. The dress looks great. But didn't you measure yourself before in order to pick a size? Why not :-)? And of course if Burda bothers to have 2 different size ranges, it's in order for the fit to be different, otherwise there'd be no point. I don't know what you mean by half-size (they don't use that term) but if you mean the petite patterns then of course the result would be totally different for the same 'size'=circumference.
    As to godets, they're a triangular inset of fabric into another to give fullness, http://www.theweebsite.com/sewing/sewing/godet.html not at all the case here (inset points I'd say instead).

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  4. Lovely dress! It fits you so nicely. You obviously know what you are doing!

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  5. Beautiful dress and you got a wonderful fit!! I agree with you that there are times when finding the right fit - regardless of measurements - is so tricky. I'm still figuring out burda for myself!

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  6. Re: side zippers - I am working on a dress right now that has a side zip, and I have never done a side zip before. Of course I had to make things difficult by deciding to line the dress, which is not meant to be lined. I need to insert the invisible side zip today and then see how things go, but fitting this dress was difficult (a New Look pattern going down to a size 4). Based on the New Look measurements, I should be a 4 in the bust, a 10 in the waist, and a 4 in the hip. The last NL dress I made I simply graded the smallest size (10) down to my measurements and it fit well. This one is proving more challenging.

    I love the Burda dress, and it looks great on you.

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  7. This dress is perfect for you. You've achieved a great fit and the fabric works so well with the design. I love this pattern, but never get around to sewing it.

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  8. This dress looks fantastic on you!! The fit is so perfect!

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  9. LOVE This dress. The print and fit are just perfect. It's so cute on you.

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  10. Okay, how did I miss this dress. It looks great on you. Love it.

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  11. Beautiful dress!! Today I'm on the '' little tricky'' part!!! Im Portuguese and my magazine is in French so the little tricky is being big tricky!! You already have the dress??

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  12. Beautiful dress!! Today I'm on the '' little tricky'' part!!! Im Portuguese and my magazine is in French so the little tricky is being big tricky!! You already have the dress??

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