Sunday 2 December 2012

The Long Sleeve Seamed Dress

Finally some pictures of my finished dress (#131 Burda Style 08/2012). This dress took me a very long time to complete. I wanted the seams to align as perfect as I could. So I did a lot of adapting, basting and re-basting.
This dress patern is for a women of 1m70, I'm a petite so I needed to adjust the pattern to my length (1m60).

This is how I adjusted the pattern:
  • I took my measurements in the manner Burda instructs. 
  • Then I compared my measurements to these of Burda.
  • I adjusted my back length and my front waist length. I did this because these measurements didn't correspond with my measurements.
  • My front waist length is 45 cm. But I have a size 76 and in this size the front waist length is 47 cm. So I shortened the bodice with 2 cm. The same I did with the back length.

note for beginners (like me ;)): never shorten a bodice by cutting the underside of the pattern, you shorten a pattern by making a fold in the pattern and redrawing the lines (seams and pleads) so they'll match again. When you don't do it this way your seams wont align!

Because I adjusted a pattern for the first time I made a toile. I made my toile out of a very cheap polyester. This dress (showed below) ended up well and now I wear it to go to student parties.


While I was making this dress I met my knew best sewing companion.
It's so handy! I can't do without! This makes it so much easier to align those seams because your seam allowance is the same everywhere! Before I measured with my measuringtape but this is less accurate in my opinion.

Making the dress and how to align the seams and topstitching

For this dress I used a 100% wool. It was €35/meter, so I couldn't afford to mess it up!

 


Below you can see the beautiful aligned seams and top stitching.




This is how I did the top stitching:
  1. The top stitching in the bodice was already done, then I (machine)basted the two parts (bodice and skirt) together and aligned the seams. Then I pressed! Don't forget this, it's the most important part!
  2. While the two parts where basted I marked the point where the top stitching had to begin with a white basting thread (see below)
  3. Then I undid my basting, topstiched the seam and stitched it all together again, while paying attention to the seam and top stitching! I do this by pinning the top stitching and seam together before pinning the rest of the bodice and skirt together. Then I stitch.
  4. Et voila! perfect aligned seams and top stitching!



 And here is my dress! The pictures are taken at the première of a local theatre piece: Popcorn. I loved it! It was a theatre piece like I've never seen before with lots of action.


(btw: I adjusted the sleeves of the dress, I think the original sleeves made me look smaller and made the dress way to conservative.)

4 comments:

  1. You look stunning in this dress! This dress has been very popular and many people made ​​a version of it (I'm going to find the link for you to understand it) everyone had complaints that the seams of the waist did not fit ... So, you are a little genius!

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  2. Thank you Rosy! You just made my day!

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  3. This dress looks fantastic. How did you adjust the sleeves? I ask because I've made this dress and kept the shape of the sleeves but made them much shorter, more like cap sleeves - unfortunately, I can't lift my arms very much.

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  4. Hi Thank you very much! I've redrawn the pattern of the sleeve so the sleeve became straight. Then I took 5cm of the sleeve. I think it is important to keep the sleeves wide enough at the top else your movements will be limited in the dress ;)

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