January Burda of the Month: 1/2013 #106 Panelled Dress

Wednesday 30 January 2013
Just in the nick of time, I've finished and photographed my project from the January Burda while it's still January.  Yay for me starting the year off on the right foot.  Ok, the eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed that I haven't (yet) made something from last year's December magazine, but it's coming I promise!

Unbelievably, my 12 months of maternity leave is almost up and I'll be returning to work in mid March.  So it made sense to make a work appropriate dress in anticipation.  I chose a relatively simple style, #106:

Burda-1-2013-#106-horizontal-seam-dress

It's deceptively simple though, because matching up all those horizontal seams required a high level of precision sewing, which quite frankly I'm too tired these days to achieve.  I think I sewed the side seams and back seams at least four times each until I was happy with the matching.  In the end I did what I should have done in the first place and handbasted those seams and the invisible zipper before machine stitching - sometimes the shortest way is not always the quickest way if you can follow my logic there!

Burda-1-2013-#106-horizontal seam dress

I used the blueberry coloured ponti knit fabric I bought from Tessuti's when we had our sewing meetup back in November, which is more work appropriate than the shimmery silk used in the magazine.  This fabric is so lovely - it's such a rich colour, and the fabric has a good amount of four way stretch without being clingy.  Even better is that I bought 2m and it is a wide fabric so I have quite a bit of fabric left for another project.

Burda-1-2013-#106-horizontal-seam-dress

The only changes I made to the pattern were to achieve a better fit.  The line drawing may indicate that the pattern is nicely curved in at the waistline, but the photo of the 'real life' model shows how what an unfitted potato sack it really is.  I ended up taking in the side seams quite a bit - 3cm starting from the underarm and tapering out to nothing below the bottom horizontal seam, and I also did a faux swayback adjustment by curving the centre back seam inwards in the middle panel.  It was all I could do really since there were no vertical darts in the front or the back, and it really could use a bit of pinching in under the bust line but overall I think I achieved a fairly good fit:

Burda-1-2013-#106-dress

The invisible zip does a funny bulge at the end just above my butt, but as you've all pointed out in the past no one should be looking too closely there anyway! Besides I sewed that zipper in way too many times trying to match up the horizontal seams to redo it.

The only thing I'm annoyed with is the visibility of the hem, although I'm not sure if that's due to the exposure of this photo.  I hand stitched it in because I'm terrible at machine invisible stitching, and in real life it doesn't look too bad, so it's also going to stay as is.  I contemplated top stitching around all those horizontal seams and the hem, but I didn't want to risk the fabric puckering and becoming wavy due to the stretch, so I've just left it as is.

So it's straight into the cupboard with this dress since I don't need it yet - I've got a month of 3 child free days a week coming up before I head back to the office since Toby is starting daycare next Monday to ease him into before I go back to work. Oh the plans I have now that I have a bit of time up my sleeve!

24 comments:

  1. I think it looks much better than the photo on Burda. I thought it was a bit plain and boring, but with yours the seams are more obvious (in a good way!) and adds just the perfect amount of interest!

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  2. I love the color and it's a perfect work dress! Didn't notice the hem until you mentioned it so I wouldnt worry about it. I hope you get a lot of sewing done before you head back to work!

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  3. Lovely dress. I too had that problem with the blueberry ponti and my beautifully hand stitched hem. I looked at the photos of my peplum "dress" and was horrified!!

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  4. It's a gorgeous colour - enjoy your little people-free days, they go so fast!

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  5. It's a lovely colour and I think your shaping (of the dress) has really enhanced it. Blah back to work but yeah for those 3 child free days for you!

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  6. Love the dress. You look fabulous. I am jealous of you losing all the baby weight so quickly. I still have yet to get rid of mine, almost 6 years later. sigh...

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  7. great dress! Our daughter is in Australia doing a study abroad program in Melbourne. I feel closer to her when I read your blog...
    It's funny, she always wants me to sew for her but while she's gone I thought I would enjoy sewing for myself but I keep thinking of things she would love!
    She will have a list when she returns... she already told me she found a pencil skirt she liked but it was too expensive so she took pictures so I can make it for her. OH MY!
    staying wet in Seattle, Washington USA!

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  8. Replies
    1. Nice dress and enjoy your time off with no kids. I guess we'll see this dress in person at the next Sydney meet up. You did buy this fabric last time didn't you :)

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  9. Your dress looks really great. I like it better than the magazine version. The horizontal seams in the solid color are the perfect, subtle design element.

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  10. What a lovely colour - it looks great on you. I won't get the January issue until about June, but I will be adding this dress to my sewing queue then.

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  11. Such a great dress! Try a sample of fusible webbing for your hem; I often do that on knits because no matter what I do, nothing else gives a nice finish.

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  12. A whole year for maternity leave is fantastic! Your dress is divine. Blue is a lovely color on you.

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  13. You're looking good honey. Have lost some weight ?

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  14. Gorgeous dress and love the colour on you.

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  15. You realise, if you keep this up, you run the risk of becoming the trend setter in your office. Burda is very fashion forward. I love the dress and the colour and you look terrific.

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  16. Nice dress. Did you buy the ponte in Sydney?

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  17. Obviously not reading properly. Where else but the ponte palace!

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  18. Yay. You've finished this lovely dress in a great colour. Your shoes are so on trend too.

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  19. Very cute! I could see this made up with some contrasting colors but I like the simplicity of your version too. 12 months maternity leave? I'm a little jealous!

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  20. I love the dress. Thanks for the tips on the fit...I was also afraid I would look like a potato sack in it. regarding the invisible hem...I stopped doing it by machine because it made it more visible. I know it takes more time to do it by hand but the result is much better. That´s how I did it on my recent double knit dress. I wonder if for swayback you couldn´t do a inverted trapezoid on the 2nd back panel and a regular trapezoid shape on the 3rd. Maybe you could omit the zipper altogether too. Love your pumps. Good luck with going back to work and getting the boy into daycare.

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  21. ooh nice! I have some of that blueberry ponti - although mine's still lamenting in my fabric stash, unlike yours roaming pround and free. Looking great!

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  22. When you have hems that need to be more invisible, using rayon hem tape on the edge and then hand sewing the hem tape to the inside of the dress helps make the transition from thick edges. Great color and your fitting issues can be easily solved before you make another one!

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  23. I love this color--so perfect for you!

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