Burda 09-2009-131 Denim A-line skirt

Hello, I am cheating again by doubling up my pattern review here and on PR, but you get the bonus of extra photos here.  This is one of the Take 1 Make 4 skirts from the September 2009 Burda.

Pattern Description:
A-line skirt with shaped waistband.

Pattern Sizing:
Burda 36-46

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
I left off the pockets but generally yes.

Were the instructions easy to follow?
I really didn't look at them, it's a straightforward pattern.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I can't get enough of a-line skirts! I liked the yoke/waistband on this one

Fabric Used:
6oz rigid denim.

Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made:
I left off the pockets and added jeans-style topstitching to complement the denim.  I cut the length of version 132, added a 5cm hem allowance but ended up taking a 1.5cm hem as it was still a bit short.

I am pretty proud of my matching job here - this is not something that comes easily to me.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
Yes, in fact I have a workday version already cut out!

Conclusion:
This is a versatile and flattering pattern. Definitely a keeper!

Pattern Review - Burda Style 03-2010-105

Here is the first of the three garments I finished up in last week's Friday Night Sew-In.  It is not very exciting, a black a-line skirt, but I have to say I am very happy with it.  The shape is really nice,  not too triangle-y and it is seriously easy to put together.

(I wouldn't normally wear all black like this but I just slipped the skirt on with the blouse I wore to work today!).

I cut size 42 at the waist blending to 44 at the hip.  The only changes I made were to lengthen the skirt to 65cm so it finishes just below my knee, added a lining and moved the zip from the side seam to the centre back.  My hip curve is quite extreme so zips never sit right in the side seam.

I think I've found my new TNT a-line pattern!

BWOF 09-2007-104 Houndstooth Coat

I only have one day left of my holidays *sob*.  As usual I set pretty lofty goals for what I wanted to achieve - clean the house from top to bottom, finish 6 projects, iron everything in the house that needs ironing, have a nutritious meal on the table at a reasonable hour every night etc etc.  I'm sure you can guess how many I achieved!  I guess I am not the domestic goddess I have always dreamed of being.  So back to work on Wednesday at least until we win the lotto!

In my defence I was sick with a cold for the first few days and am still in ongoing battles with the insurance company over my car (guess how I spent 1 1/2 hours today?), at least I have my new car though and as soon as my windows are tinted (tomorrow) and I get the refund on my registration (no idea when that will happen) I can sit down and write a very therapeutic letter to the general manager of the company and tell them exactly why I will not be continuing my relationship with them.

Don't worry I am posting about some sewing today, it's just a particularly winding road today.

So it was my birthday the Thursday before last, and the fact I am only mentioning it now indicates what a non-event it was.  I was sick with the aforementioned cold, spent a good hour or so battling the insurance company, which was just sooo frustrating and then spent the afternoon at the stitches and craft show with my Mum.  It was nice but there wasn't much there that caught my eye this time, pity because it's usually the highlight of my crafting year.  I bought a kit to knit yet another scarf though, so it wasn't a total let-down.

Things got a lot better on Saturday, when my fella and I went out for dinner with a bunch of friends.  It was a great night and I got to unveil the houndstooth coat, which in true form I finished that afternoon.

It's looks okay considering I didn't make any alterations to the pattern.  Ordinarily I would cut a 38 to the armholes, a 40 or 42 at the waist and a 44 at the hip, then would make a 2cm fba, narrow the upper back by 5cm (2.5cm on the half pattern) and shorten the centre back above the waist by 2.5cm.  By comparison, this coat is made from a straight size 38.

You can see the worst of the fit problems on the back, see how it's way too wide across between the sleeves?  And it's quite snug around my hips, but it's okay if I wear it open.

I sewed the buttons on the outside but it is really fastened by large snaps.  I am particularly proud of the welt pockets, something I don't do often, and the spotted lining, which is just cute.

If you have the patience for one more story here goes...

My fella is from the north-east of England, it's very cold there and they seem to stay warm by shouting about football (soccer) a lot.  In this particular part of the country there is a fierce rivalry between two cities, divided by a river.  One side is black and white and the other is red and white, my fella's family is from the red and white side of the river (when I want to wind him up I taunt him with 'blood and bandages').  Even in Australia (he has lived here for nearly 20 years) the passion doesn't wane.  One time I innocently suggested that black and white bed linen might look stylish, my fella replied that I could buy whatever bed linen I wanted, just don't expect him to sleep under a black and white quilt cover.

He was very complimentary about my houndstooth coat, but I knew he would find it hard to truly embrace the black and white.  Because I am a nice girlfriend I bound the hem and facing edge in pink satin bias, so now he can like my new coat without feeling like a traitor to his family!

BWOF 01-2009-124 Herringbone Waistcoat

One of my favourite TV shows is The IT Crowd. In the third season Jen, the female character, wears a really cute blouse and waistcoast combo.

I re-created it in my own way. Here's the front:
And the back:

You'll recognise the blouse from my previous post. The waistcoat is from the January 09 BWOF.

I cut a size 38 down to the bottom of the armholes, then graded out to a 42 at the waist and I made an FBA.

I used fusible bias tabe to stabilise the neck and armholes and pretty much followed the instructions except for the armholes. I never get a nice finish when I join the shoulders after sewing the armholes so this is how I did mine.

Sew the waistcoat shell and lining, leaving a gap in the centre back of the lining. Sew the lining and shell together all around the outside, turn through and press well. I didn't topstich as I thought it might look a bit weird on the plain back.

Now on to the armholes, turn in the raw edges on an armhole (I did it at the side seam) roughly and pin them together (don't worry this is just a marker, not for construction):

Reach inside through the hole in the centre back and pinch the raw edges you just turned in. Pull the edges out through the whole and remove the first pin.

Now start pinning around the armhole as far as you can. You might need to start over if you get a bit confused - it takes a while to get the hang of it. I usually sew from the side seam to just past the shoulder seam on the first go. This is after the first pass, see the opening in the upper right hand side of the armhole?

Then untangle your waistcoat, go in through the hole again and sew the remainder of the armhole. Trim and press your seams.

The finished armhole:

Overall, it's a pretty cute outfit. I'm not sure how far into winter I'll get before I have to change from a cotton blouse to something warmer, but it will do for a while at least!

BWOF 07-2008-108 Tunic Part 2

Today I'll show you how I face a sleeveless top without hand sewing. It's not that I am against hand sewing - in fact I really enjoy it but I find this method give a really high quality result without bulky seam allowances getting in the way. I learned it when I was working in bridal, where we used it on halter tops and sleeveless bodices. This tunic isn't strictly sleeveless so it's a bit easier than normal (you would usually have to sew the armhole in two stages) but the principle is the same so you might like to try it.

OK. So I have finished the lower armhole and joined the yokes to the rest of the tunic. I have also sewn the shoulder seams in the yoke facings.

The first thing to do is to sew the neck seam, understitch it on the facing side and then clip and press (this is the order that works best for me - and it give the smoothest results).

This next part involves a little maths. If you use seam allowances other than 1.5cm (5/8") then you will need to work this out for yourself. My little brain took ages to figure it out for 1.5cm!

Trim 0.5cm off the armhole edge of your facings, this will ensure that the facing rolls nicely to the inside of the top.



Next, open the top out so it looks like the picture below. The shoulder seams are running horizontally. Forgive my photo, I don't have photo editing software so I had to do this in crappy old paint.



Get hold of the armhole ends of the shoulder seams, facing in your left hand and yoke in your right. Bring your left hand around behind the top and match the seam ends in your right hand then pin them together. Don't think about this too much - it will hurt your brain. The top will resemble a fortune cookie at this point.
Work your way out from the seam until the entire facing edge is pinned to the yoke edge. You will need to wiggle and adjust as you go but it can be done. If the entire armhole is faced, you'll need to do this in two goes.
Sew in a 1cm seam (not 1.5cm because of what you trimmed off earlier). Your seam will not match up to the finished edge of the lower armhole but when you turn everything through to the right side you will find the yoke and facing roll nicely to the inside and look really smooth and neat. You can understitch this seam too. It is tricky but worth the patience. This is the finished armhole from the inside.
The next stage is to sew down the facings to the yoke seams on the inside. You can turn under the edge and stitch in the ditch, which is what I planned to do, but in the end I decided to hand sew this part. It really didn't take long and gave a really nice finish.

Here is the finished top. I made a narrow rolled hem on the bottom. Despite my best efforts it's a bit wonky but I intend to only wear it tucked in.
Here it is tucked in, as I'll wear it to work, bear in mind that I am a little larger than my dummy.
I'm pretty pleased with the way this top turned out. The silk satin is beautiful and not too shiny for daytime. There are a couple of creases that I can't shift so I am going to have to take it to the drycleaner to press it for me but after that it should be fairly easy-care since I pre-washed the fabric.

BWOF 07-2008-108 Tunic Part 1

Hi everyone,

I hope you all had a fantastic new year and are feeling optimistic about 2009. I am not going to do a review of 2008 or resolutions at this point as the little counter on the left tells me my blogoversary is coming up soon and I think I'll save it for then.

I'll start 2009 with a project I actually finished last year but it's taken me a while to get all the photos together. It's a simple project but I have done things a bit differently so I wanted to show you how I achieved my result.

The project is BWOF 07-2008-108 the tunic with an inverted pleat in the front. It's photographed in linen, but I chose a silk satin for my version. This is the second top to go with the flounce skirt I made recently.

The pattern is very simple - front and back, front and back yokes and side seam pockets (which I left off). After reading the reviews at Pattern Review I decided I would need an FBA. This is not an easy pattern to make this alteration on, so I made up a 'cheats' way to get extra room in the front.

When I traced the back pattern pieces, I used a straight 38 for the entire yoke and traced the back piece starting at 38 to the bottom of the armholes and then graded out to a 42 at the hips (the magazine photo looks very snug on the model's non-existent hips - it turns out it's not that bad!). For the front I traced a 38 on the shoulders of the yoke, graded out to a 42 at the bottom of the yoke and then traced a straight 42 for the front piece. This is not a fitted garment, I just needed room and this method worked pretty well.

No interfacing is called for - and wouldn't be needed in a cotton or linen - but I backed the yokes with silk organza.

I didn't follow the instructions at all. I completely made up my own way based on how it might be manufactured for RTW - I wanted to put this together without hand sewing (I enjoy hand sewing but sometimes like to challenge myself to pretend I'm a 'real' designer). That didn't quite happen but for a good reason, more on that later.

First I stay-stitched EVERYTHING - silk satin is really unstable! I stay-stitched the neck, armhole and bottom edges of the yoke facings, and the top edges of the front and back pieces. I also basted the silk organza to the facing pieces. Below you can see the back yoke with silk organza and the back yoke facing.

I constructed the side seams first. I used french seams but when I sewed the first line of stitches (the wrong sides together part) I stopped about 1cm below the armhole marking. For the second line of stitching I went all the way up to the marking and back stitched for security. I snipped into the seam where the first row ended and then turned a double hem around the armhole slit using up the 1.5cm seam allowance. It ends up looking a bit like a sleeve placket.

Next I sewed together the yoke shoulder seams, made the pleat in the front and joined the yoke to the rest of the top. This is a shaped seam and can be tricky but you have to keep in mind you are matching the stitching lines not the cut edges. Clip the curves to the stay-stitching and use quite a few pins to keep everything in place and remember that the yoke seam allowances will protrude at either end. For silk and fine fabrics I like to use glass-headed pins - they are pricey but worth it IMHO. As I sew I use a tip from a Sandra Betzina video I watched ages ago. Instead of maintaining the tension on the fabric in front and behind the machine foot as you normally would on a long straight seam, put both hands in front of the foot and massage with your fingers left and right. This manipulates the bias slightly and you'll find you can accommodate a fair amount of ease or curve this way. Try it on a scrap, this tip changed my sewing life!

Next time I'll go through a tutorial on how to face a sleeveless garment completely by machine, an industry technique I learned while working in the bridal studio, and show you the finished garment.

A Plea for Help!

Hi all,

I know I must be the last person in the world that still buys BWOF at the shops, but for various reasons mainly related to a non-standard letterbox and a cranky postie it is not practical for me to subscribe. Anyway, I cannot find the September issue anywhere! By my calculations, it should have been in the shops at the end of November and I have been checking everywhere I know that stocks it since. I asked my newsagent and he said he couldn't remember seeing one for ages either. What I'd like to know from my Australian readers is: Have you seen BWOF 09-2008 at your local newsagent? Or, alternatively do you know of a shipping problem that's holding things up? I am suffering withdrawals, I even have my fella staking out newsagencies just in case a lone copy shows up!

I never realised what an addict I am (hangs head in shame).

The Optimistic Christmas Dress Part 2

Today was my last day at work until 12 January. And not a moment too soon! To be honest I've been having a pretty rough time the last couple of months and some time away to get my (mental and emotional) strength back is just what I need. I feel really fortunate that I have my sewing to look forward to, even just thinking about projects when I'm too tired to actually do anything has really kept me going.

But enough of that. I am pleased to report that the optimistic dress is going very well so far. I made up the lining for fitting and I ended up not needing to do much to it...

The lining is 100% cotton voile and is a little see-through, which is why I am not modelling it. You'll just have to take my word for it that the fit isn't too bad. I took 3cm off the centre back neck edge, tapering to nothing at the bottom edge of the bodice, something I almost always have to do. Where I graded from a 42 to a 44 at the hip ended up looking a little exaggerated and I didn't need the room so I shaved that off the sides. The only other thing I needed to change was that I had added too much length in the vertical part of my FBA. I just took out the excess length in the lining and it worked fine. I made all these changes to the pattern before I cut out my fabric.

I have now sewed the main parts of the fabric together and the zip is in. I just need to sew in the lining and the sleeves and I'm done. I realise now that I haven't shown you the fabric. I don't have a photo but it is a 100% cotton, black with white pin dots. It has a deep embroidered border along both edges, which I've used on the bottom edge of the skirt and on the sleeves - no hems yay! You'll just have to be patient until I show you the finished thing.

I have a couple of appointments early tomorrow, then home for washing, cleaning, sewing (of course!) and cooking before my new dress gets its debut at my Mum's for Christmas Eve dinner. I'll be wearing it again on Christmas day for breakfast at my Dad's then lunch at my fella's family's house. The best part of all? It can go straight into the washing machine and will dry in about 5 seconds flat! The downside of course being that it will need ironing.

Optimistic Christmas Dress Part One, the Pattern

I am calling this the optimistic dress because there are four days till Christmas and I have to work two of them and I am still planning to make a new dress! Last year I was completely broke and made ALL of my Christmas gifts, and I had to wear old clothes on Christmas day. This year I made nothing for others and really, really want something new to wear for myself.

The chosen pattern is BWOF 10-07-105. Luckily I always check Pattern Review before starting a new project and I discovered there are some issues with this dress, specifically in the boobage area. Since I am wearing a D these days, I knew I'd better address this rather than take my usual course of action, namely 'hope for the best'.

First I took my measurements - high bust, full bust, waist, hip, plus the length from my shoulder over the fullest part of the bust to where I wanted the empire seam to sit (I hate it when the seam hits the wrong point and just looks dowdy!). I chose the size(s) to trace from my high bust (38 to the under arm), waist (42) and hip (44) - aargh, these numbers are creeping up and I am not happy! Anyhoo, I traced off the pattern, adding 5cm to the skirt length so it would hit just below my kneecap, and then set about dealing with the bodice pattern.

I decided that I would get rid of the bust dart and convert it to gathers under the bust. When you do an FBA you create extra fullness that you need to get rid of in a dart or similar, and I am not a fan of enormous darts.

The next thing was to measure the side seam of the bodice. At only 9cm, this was not going to be deep enough to hit where I think it should (around the bottom of my bra band) so I added 2cm in length to the whole bodice, front and back. Remember if you do this not to just continue the side seam line down - because it's tapered you'll make the bottom edge shorter which will cause problems later. Measure the bottom edge and make sure it's the same as the original, swing the side seam out a little if you need to.

The first step in an FBA is to find the bust point. When I learned pattern drafting, we were always told to shorten the dart to about an inch away from the bust point, I'm not convinced this always happens in commercial patterns as I see a lot of 'pointy boobs', but that's what should be done. I guesstimated the bust point to be about 2 cm from the end of the bust dart in this particular pattern so I extended the mid line of the dart to this point. Then I joined the shoulder, lower edge and centre front to the same point. I also marked notches 2cm either side of the line from bust point to lower edge. These will be my gathering guides - all the new fullness will end up between these marks and then I'll just gather the area back to 4cm.

I swung the dart closed and allowed the bottom edge to open up. I taped it temporarily as I'll use the dart line again later! Thanks to my fella for providing a finger in need - he is fascinated with how I do this stuff and is always willing to help - bless him.
Next I sliced up to the shoulder and open up the amount needed. My full bust measurement is 4cm bigger than my high bust measurement (which doesn't technically make me a 'D' I know, but it's what I need to wear anyway!). This means I need to add 2cm on each side of the bodice, so I opened up the pattern by 2cm.

Still with me? Okay, good. The next step is to take into account the added length of a full bust (the previous step took care of the width). I measured the pattern from the shoulder, through the bust point to the bottom edge and worked out what I needed to add based on the measurement I took earlier. This was 3.5cm. I opened the dart again and this time opened it up at the bust point instead of the side edge, by 3.5cm.

Oh, I really hope this is helping, I'm starting to feel confused on your behalf! Next I cut through to the centre front and dropped this piece down by the same amount.

Finally, I patched all the gaps and re-drew around the pattern piece. Remember on the bottom edge don't just join the gap with a straight line, you need to measure the cut edges and keep this length consistent in the new section (sorry, that's not really clear but I don't know how to write it). You can see how my bottom edge has a curve in the new section. Try to visualise how that will look in three dimensions and I think you'll see why it needs to be this way.

I would normally re-trace the pattern but I've run out of butter paper so this is my actual pattern piece for the time being. Must remember to get to an art supply shop before Christmas!

I'll cut and sew the lining today as a kind of toille, then if all goes well I'll get cracking on the main dress. Wish me luck!

BWOF 01-08-109 Pencil skirt

Now, I am a hippy girl. And by that I don’t mean peace love and mung beans – I’m far too uptight for that! I do mean that I have child bearing hips, a low-slung behind and jodhpur thighs. Not to be self critical, it’s not that bad, but it is a reality.

Current thinking (for example Trinny and Susannah) would probably slap me about the head if I even thought about wearing a pencil skirt, but this was not always the case. If you go back to the early 90’s, most people believed that tapered skirts were slimming on bottom heavy figures. Even a recent BWOF (sorry can’t remember which one off hand) stated that ‘pencil skirts look better on those with a bit more figure’. Ha, I love that ‘a bit more figure’. It reminds me of a newspaper article from the Edwardian period that I read about fashion which made suggestions for ladies with ‘an abundance of figure’ how polite.

But I digress. All this got me thinking that I might try a pencil skirt. A style that I haven’t worn since I was about 17 years old and a size 8-10 (that’s Australian sizes, I think it’s a 2-4 in the US) ie a long time ago. If my experiment works it might just get me out of the rut I’ve been in with clothes. This pattern really got my imagination going, even though I worried that the panel lines angling the way they do might make me look ENORMOUS, but it seemed to be such a nice construction challenge that I’d just go for it and see what happened.

This is the result:

Please ignore the strange hip lump on the back photo - it's one of the dials on my dummy. I am hoping to convince my fella to take a pic of me wearing the skirt but it could be a little while before it happens!

I’m pretty happy with this overall. The only alteration I made to the pattern was to lengthen it by 7cm. As usual there were a couple of issues, but seriously tiny ones that didn’t spoil my enjoyment of making the skirt at all.

1. According to my measurements I am a 42 in burda sizes. In fact one of the key selling points of this pattern for me is that I was a consistent size from waist to hips – not usually the case at all! In practice I had to take a truckload off the side seams. Like 2cm off each side, front and back from the waist down to mid thigh. Luckily this was really easy to do and I’d rather take in than have to let out. Next time I think I’ll cut a 40.

2. The pockets don’t lie flat at all and I get a slightly strange belly look. I followed the (quirky) directions which weren’t hard at all but I think next time I’d ignore the part where you sew the top of the pocket from the top to the top marking(!) essentially joining the pocket and facing to the side front panel of the skirt but down the pocket opening edge for a little bit. I’d rather have the opportunity to correct the lie of the pocket in fittings a bit further down the construction path. I can live with this though – especially now I’ve joined a gym and will very soon have abs of steel (lol).

3. The 12 cm zip is a touch too short for the opening. I managed to get away with it, but next time I would buy a 15cm zip and shorten it.

4. This is just a note on construction. I didn't follow the instructions for hemming the back vents. Threads #137 FINALLY got to Australia (we have to wait so long and pay so much but it's worth it! I am still waiting for the March BWOF to show up in the shops :( but I digress again). I followed the Threads instructions to mitre the corners. I was super easy and looks great, vent hems can often look bulky and amateurish, but the mitre give a really professional finish.

Actually that’s all I can think of. Everything else was really smooth and I love the way the skirt looks. I’ve never bothered much with BWOF patterns as I am essentially lazy and I always figured I may as well draft my own patterns rather than trace off, then add seam allowance. I am now converted, it hardly took any time and the result is way more stylish than most of the skirts the big 4 put out. I have a pair of BWOF pants cut out too, so they are next up. I cut these in a 42 as well, but I think it will be okay.