I made a dress!
I’ve made this dress before. It looked like this:
The first time I made it, I didn’t understand that I needed to add seam allowance to the pattern pieces. (It was a BurdaStyle pattern and they don’t put seam allowance.) The dress ended up being so tiny that I was able to wear it for the photo shoot and that was pretty much it. Every now and then I try the dress on again but can’t get it zipped up. Its Forever Home will have to be for either a child or a very petite lady.
Anyway, I made it a second time, finally, after several years! I’ve always wanted to make it again and finally did.
The first one was made from a gigantic queen-size duvet cover, given to me and my former husband by my former mother-in-law. It was one of the first home items we owned. After we moved into our second condo, our color scheme changed and I re-purposed the yardage.
The second dress I created out of a vintage bedsheet! It’s a funny coincidence that both dresses were made from bedding cottons.
I didn’t have Bemberg rayon lining on hand in the right color, so I simply used the same bedsheet for the lining, meaning that it has two layers of cotton. I wore it the other evening here in Yuma, Arizona, where it is typically 100+ degrees Fahrenheit, and I’m happy to report the cotton breathes well!
For some reason, adding the seam allowance made the dress a little too big. This irritates me slightly: without seam allowance it’s too small, with seam allowance it’s too big? I belted it though, to cinch the waist in.
The pattern neckline is cute in theory, but looks sort of over-sized and plain on me, so on both versions of the dress, I cinched the shoulders and stitched them down, making little gathers.
Halfway through the fancy dinner to which I wore my second dress, I realized I could also cinch at the center bust-line, give it an even more retro Marilyn Monroe kinda sweetheart bustline, and that maybe that would also solve some fit issues.
I didn’t get great photos of the dress yet, but I’ll plan a casual photo shoot and see what I can scrounge up. Off to scout locations, preferably a neutral-toned brick wall?
CUP & PENNY 
Congratulations 🙂 you finished a Burda Pattern and you can wear it. I have been struggling with Burda for several patterns, most of them were ‘kinda loose; in the wrong corners. I would never wear them in public, let alone a fancy dinner. So I think you did a great job and I am looking forward to your photo shoot. Thank you for sharing your experience, it was very funny to read and made me feel better about my Burda blobs 🙂
LikeLike
Thank you jjfrizzy!
I’ve generally had success with BurdaStyle patterns but it’s their instructions that really mess with my head!
On this particular dress, the instructions seemed to be missing small but important details, and the steps seemed out of order.
Eventually I had to rely on my own ideas and what I had learned in design school about how to get it done.
Part of the reason I went to design school was so I could figure my way around these issues, but to be honest I still lack confidence in deviating from the pattern.
Have you found other patterns you prefer over BurdaStyle? I love ByHandLondon and Tilly and the Buttons, but they can’t beat Burda for selection.
LikeLike