Dress Making

Well, I sure haven’t been painting lately. But I did sew a dress this week.

It’s “Romance Dress” #119 from Burda. The pattern can be found here.

I have sewn several other articles of clothing for myself but I think this is the only thing I’ve ever sewn that I actually really like. And doesn’t look like a total novice pattern (to me, anyway- even though it is).

Like if I saw it in a store, I would actually buy it.

I am sure my fellow sewers and knitters out there know the feeling. You spend HOURS and sometimes a good amount of money making something and it turns out frumpy, or unflattering, or just weird. I don’t really have enough skill to remedy that when it happens so I’m pretty thrilled I found a good pattern. Plus- a dress with POCKETS!! Am I right, ladies?

As far as working with a Burda pattern, it was kind of a pain. They don’t allow for seam allowances in their patterns so you have to add it on as you cut. The instructions are pretty confusing to me, so I kind of just read the directions, got confused, then just looked at the pieces and put them together. It was a print at home type deal and a few of the pieces needed to be traced from another existing pattern piece and cut out which was strange. There was also a pattern piece (#2 for those of you who have this pattern) that is mentioned nowhere in the instructions and doesn’t seem to be missing in the dress!

I bought the fabric from a local quilting store- it’s a lovely cotton by Anna Griffin. I picked out several bolts of her fabric for this dress and took almost an hour deciding on this one. It was the right choice!