Burda dress

Well, writing this blog post has proven almost as challenging as sewing the dress: This was a frustrating, and unsatisfying sew! I started the blog post two weeks ago, but had trouble with formating when I cut and pasted parts from a different document.... 

Lots of text follows - but if you make this dress, there are some things you need to know!

But first - make sure to get the updated instructions from Burda. As I struggled with this pattern I reached out to Burda with a couple of questions. They were responsive, and helpful, and in the end acknolwedged that the instructions needed to be rewritten, THANK YOU FOR THIS CUSTOMER SERVICE, BURDA! 

  

When the pattern came out in German in March I knew I wanted to make it for my daughter. Who lives in Australia. I was leaving for Australia April 1 and I wanted to make a muslin to bring with me. Let it be known that Australia daughter is not very tall, and has an athletic build. And apparently a full derrière. 

  

I procured the German version (from a German friend, could not buy it from Canada!). I figured: I can sew, I know some German and I can use the internet. Well... the instructions were difficult to follow, at best. (This from the sewist concurrently trying to figure out a poorly-translated-from-Russian set of instructions)

I managed to get the muslin made with some grading between sizes, and shortened it. She tried it on, and I made some markings, but then did not get back to it for MONTHS. In the meantime a kind Pattern Review member had provided me with an English-language version of the instructions. These were only moderately more clear to me than the German!

first error While this may seem trivial, it confused me. There was one small section which was repeated... with no illustrations, and no use of pattern piece numbers in the instructions it took me a while to figure out that I had already completed that step! 

I contacted Burda who kindly provided me with a corrected version. But the second error I thought I saw was not, it seems, an error. Reading the instructions it sounded like one needed a second bodice lining piece. One does not, BUT, when sewing the bodice front lining to the bodice front skirt, one should sew wrong side to right side. This is not stated. If one does not do that, the section where one applies the front overlay section to the lining will be backwards.

My fix: I unpicked my bodice lining and re-sewed it wrong side to right side. 

third "error" possibly user error, but I can't find where it says what to do with the front skirt lining... how or where or when to attach it.

My fix - I folded under the top seam allowance, as indicated in the instructions, and after sewing up the side seams I hand stitched this to the bodice lining/front skirt seam.

fourth omission The instructions for sewing up the side seams are to sew up the side of the main fabric, then continue sewing down the sides of the lining. IMPOSSIBLE. The front bodice lining is secured to the main front skirt. And, don't forget, that front skirt lining is still in limbo!

My fix: This will be very hard to understand, but basically I had to sew the side seams in three steps. After a basting trial and not-so-easy method I realized the trick was to line up the armscye so that the seams under the arm matched up. Then I sewed around that. Then I lined up the front and back lining pieces, and sewed to where the bodice lining started. Nex I lined up the front and back main pieces, and did the same. This worked out when it was all turned right-side out. And frankly, this explanation is probably incomprehensible to anyone who does not have the dress in their hands! 

other issues I found this pattern very difficult to alter. There are no lengthen or shorten lines, and very few notches. There are instructions in the extra pages, but I did not actuallythink I needed them. Also the words used in the text are not always clear. For example: "Trim seam allowances and lay them underneath lining. Stitch lining allowances close to seams. Turn lining to inside, press edges."  It repeats these instructions for the back bodice edges. And THEN after all that it says 'see helpful hint - understitching a facing'. If they had written 'Understitch' at the beginning of this it would have been clear what they were saying. This is but one example. Another ommission there are two tabs (well, two per side), one shorter than the other. Nowhere do I see where it tells you which is the front and the back. I figured it out, but still...   (and in the end we did not do them.)

User error. Due to the phrasing and my lack of familiarity with Burda patterns I did not do a lovely job with the shoulder seams. These are sewn after all the edges (front and neck) are done. At one point it tells you to press lining shoulder seam allowances to inside. In retrospect that is clear. So anyway, my shoulder seams are not beautiful.

I also did not place the top of my invisible zip correctly. I am still not sure what would have been best... 

 Altering this pattern 

I needed to shorten this pattern. And in so doing in the first muslin I probably messed up the hip fit. She could not move her legs with that muslin. And I did not notice this at the original fitting?! However, when doing the second muslin I realized that my daughter's hip measurement was significanly larger than the corresponding size for her waist.  And, it seems, that all of this is in her derrière. My first attempt to correct for this was to grade between a smaller waist size on the back skirt pieces and ... a hip size that was beyond the pattern sizing. A bit of research pointed me in the direction of a full derrière adjustment. Similar to doing a full bust adjustment. I had to guess, though, at how much. I guessed fairly accurately - the second muslin fit around the derrière very well. There were some drag lines from the side of the hips, but I was in a rush by this point, had an uncooperative client, and had no idea what to do about them. So they stayed.  

perfectly aligned in the muslin!

At the original fitting I had taken in the vertical darts. What with that and the modified back skirt, my darts were no longer lining up properly. (They were perfect on muslin 1). Before cutting out the final dress I played around with the darts, and thought I had it all settled, only to be bothered by three mismatched darts.  I fixed one of them, and the end result is... imperfectly acceptable

just off, here!

I basted the front and back together before final stitching, and still had to remove a good amount from the side seams. 

Comparing my two methods: by grading to a larger size at the sides only, I created jodphurs, basically! The Full derrière adjusment allows you to add volume towards the back.

Finishing touches

I was in a rush. I did the hem by hand, and it did pucker a bit. I did a nice mitred corner at the vents! (Forgot to get a photo). I then cut down the lining, folded it up and pinned it. I sewed it by hand to the hem, and it puckered some more. And I had trouble arranging the lining vent so that it did not intefere with the back vent itself.

Conclusion

Will this dress be worn? Who knows?! She is a bit of a perfectionist, so it will depend on if she sees it with the same criticism I see it with. The photos suggest a fit which is worse than what I saw in real life...