BWOF 07/2009-104

This poor dress has been cut out and half sewn for almost a year! I don't generally create UFOs, but I was pregnant with Duncan when I started this one, and I just couldn't make myself work on something I couldn't wear.

The pattern is BWOF 07/2009-104, which is a basic A-line shirt dress, shaped at the waist with elastic shirring. It features a collar with stand, and the pattern calls for flat felled shoulder seams so that the sleeves can be rolled up artfully. I decided that was too much work (both the seams and keeping them rolled up) so I shortened the sleeve to elbow length and elasticated the hem.

I also underlined the dress portion, since my fabric (an embroidered cotton/lycra shirting from FFC) was semi-sheer.

Burda called for shirring the waist panels by zigzagging over elastic cord, then pulling the cords to a designated measurement. I'm not terribly confident of my ability to zigzag over cord without catching it in the stitching, so I thought about shirring with elastic thread in the bobbin, but you don't have much control over the finished size that way, so I elected to use clear elastic, cut to the finished length per the pattern.

Here is the inside of the back waist panel, with the elastic in place. I like the way it worked. The elastic feels sturdy but still soft and comfortable, and the fit is excellent.

You can see how nicely the elastic shapes the waist. There is just a tiny bit of negative ease - hence the three tightly spaced buttons at the waistline. I also like the way the underlining serves to give the skirt body. I was going for a casual, comfortable dress and didn't want to wear a slip or petticoat with it.

From the back, the bodice blouses over the waistline and the skirt echoes the A line shape. It's surprisingly shapely for a completely shapeless dress. It's amazing what a bit of elastic can do.

What do you think? I'm pretty happy, although maybe I should put on my pearls and clean the house.

Firsts

I finally finished my first Burda WOF! And I even did it in the month it was published (which means, of course, that I have several past issues to get working on!). This poor top has quite a story, actually. I have been a little nervous about diving into BWOF, mostly because I think of myself as a novice to early intermediate level sewist, but think of BWOF as rather advanced. I was also afraid of the lack of diagrams. Now that I have a few (also diagram-less) Ottobre items under my belt I was a little less worried about that, but I still opted for this months "Extra Pattern" which includes diagrams in the instructions. Yippee!

So, here it is. Now, in my head, this top has had many permutations. Initially, I planned to make it as a nursing-friendly PJ top. I had this length of blue rib knit - stretchy and soft - that just said comfy PJs to me. Then, after making my Hawaiian skirt, I thought it would be great to go with that, but some design changes were needed, although I planned to use the rib knit still, since it was a nice blue.

Here is the line drawing. I think the low, keyhole back is pretty, but there is no way that is going to cover the underthings, so I raised the back neckline, eliminating the keyhole altogether so that I could wear it out of the house.

Here is the new back neckline. I tried to preserve a bit of the V shape. I like the way that it echoes the front V. So far, so good. Alas that it all goes downhill from here. That comfy, stretchy rib knit was a very poor plan. Look at this sleeve!!! All ripply and gross from stretching in the machine. And that is with the differential feed at 2!

I stabilized all of the other seam and hemlines with French Fuse cut on the crossgrain. Worked great, as you can see from the lack of ripples elsewhere. I neglected the sleeve hems. Then, while twin needle stitching the last few inches of the second sleeve hem, Janome chewed it up. She was doing fine, too. I was compensating for the stretch by feeding the fabric slowly and bracing behind the presser foot with my finger, so I had a nice, ripple free hem. Then the fabric dove down into the feed dogs and shredded. I had to add a band to get the length I needed, and I didn't stabilize the sleeve like I should have. Oh well. After the fact I realized that this blue is too light for my skirt anyway, so it's PJs. I wore it last night, and it was perfect. Myra spent all night rubbing the fabric on her cheek, so at least she likes it!

In other exciting news, my sister has also decided to jump on the blogging bandwagon and has started her own sewing blog! How fun is that! Check her out at Varina's Costume Shop and Haberdashery.