Another Dress! Burda 5/2019 #104

I'm always talking about something I saw somewhere but rarely remember where. I'm sorry! LOL!

I saw a wrap dress with 2 tiers of ruffles in a vertical stripe and went completely nuts for it. I knew I'd be making one and was drawn to this print. Sure, I was mildly afraid of it looking Big Tent (clownish) but luckily...it's awesome!

So, I now have several dbp dresses. I am still not a huge fan of the fabric but man if the vibrant colors and prints don't draw me in! I definitely can't wear it on my lower half and am not sure how people make pants of this stuff! WHEW! At any rate, it's too warm for the warmest days; it was about 85 when I took the pics and I was hot. I meant to show it with a denim jacket but, HOT. Too hot! It was really cute though when I tried it on :)

This wrap dress from the May 2019 Burda was a great match and just needed a ruffle (I decided against 2 tiers). I cut a size 40 neckline, 42 front and 44 back (after the armholes). It came out a little too big, I probably didn't need to grade to a 44, but it's fine.

It wasn't until I tried it on to decide how long the ruffle should be that I realized the front isn't cut on the straight of grain because of the wrap front. DOH! My stripes aren't actually vertical!! I was kind of over it at that point and almost quit the project. But honestly, I like it! The back is vertical and the ruffle is horizontal and the front slightly biased, the ties are on the crossgrain...I love how everything came together.

I had my hair in 2 french braids for the past few days. I took them out and it seems like within moments, I had a fro! LOL!!! One of my favorite hairstyles will always be front up/back down so I'm loving it anyhow! And, I love this dress and want to hug it! But it wasn't without trials because, of course!

I used my serger to do the gathering (you must try it!). My ruffle panels are about 55" wide and 11" long (I wanted a finish length of 10"). I gathered this 4.5+ yards of fabric in like, less than 5 minutes! Ahhhhhh. 

I always read the Burda instructions but it usually reads like gibberish. Usually, if you follow the steps, it ends up making sense. Most of the time, the garment has straightforward enough construction that I just use methods/order that I want. But, this time I didn't follow directions and got to place where I was stuck. 

Ohhhhhhh! That's what they meant! I couldn't figure out why they'd want me to make a separate back band or why the side seams were sewn first. 

Well, so that you don't do what I did, the shoulder casings is why! The side seams are sewn, the armhole, back neckline, and front neckline are all faced and turned inside and topstitched. Then, you sew the shoulders together, press open the seam, and topstitch on either side to form a casing for the shoulder tie. Hemming the neckline and armhole first results in an opening at both neckline and shoulder.  

Because I'd already sewn the shoulder seam, I ended up having the shoulder pulled up a bit because I needed enough seam allowance to make a casing! Because of course I serged it initially, when I removed the serger stitches, I only had 1/4" of seam allowance. I sewed the seam at 1/2" and made 3/8" casings. I also made the ties a bit narrower to account for this. For the neck and armhole binding, I didn't use Burda's measurements mainly because I prefer a narrower topstitch and usually go for 3/8" or 1/2". 

And of course I used more of my Milly cordstops! I love the look!!

I cut 2 pieces from the same section for the ties and flipped them so that one side had pink facing and blue striped under and vice versa on the other. Just another area where I played with the stripes.

You can see here that the shoulder is sitting a little bit back, and I can feel that 1/2" difference when it's on, but it doesn't result in discomfort so I can live with it. 

Lastly, pics in which I accidentally serve face! 

I haven't done anything I set out to do in August but what else is new! :-p I did finish the baby set though! :-D It didn't defeat me!