Finished Project & Pattern Review: Burda 7254. Un-picking black knits is a bitch!

I started this dress in September and two months later here it is, all finished!

This was my project for my weekly sewing class, my first Burda project and first time with jersey.

Jersey was a big challenge. Encouraging words from classmates and bloggers got me through... "jersey is great to sew with"... "jersey doesn't fray"... "jersey is forgiving" ...

And you are all right, it definitely is forgiving, and doesn't fray and is great to sew with once you get used to it. I forgot to stretch the fabric a few times, whoops.

The hardest part was tracing the Burda 7254 pattern on to "paper". I never cut into the original pattern, always trace it on to sew-on interfacing and use that as a pattern piece. The Burda pattern confuses me, the "lines" for each size are busy looking, not like BM&V.

Marking the hundreds of pleats on the bodice was tedious but I made it through, pleated the side bodice pieces and sewed it to the interfaced centre piece, then the fun began ;)

The rest of the dress was easy peazie. Four darts on the back, some pleats on the sleeves, facings.

This dress is not lined, instead it has facings which are stabilized using McCall's textureweft (iron on) and raw edges serged. The centre piece and centre back is interfaced.

The dress is closed with a 22" black invisible zipper.

I hemmed the dress by hand, using a 'flat catch stitch' - I think that's what the stitch is called, my tutor showed me this new stitch and I missed the name of it so I Googled and found this handy document on hand sewing. Have a look at my pic below and let me know if I'm right.

I was suppose to finish the sleeve by hand as well, but I got lazy, went and bought myself a twin stretch needle and finished it by machine. I think the sewing-gods were watching and decided to punish me for being lazy, cos I stuffed up one sleeve and spent a good half hour unpicking, grr, hence the title of this post.

TOP: Inside view of bodice & facings

MIDDLE: Zipper & darts, Outside bodice

BOTTOM: Pleats, 'Flat catch stitch' on hem

Pattern Review: Burda 7254

Size: Size 10

Fabric: 1.75m jersey from Rathdowne Fabrics

Notions: Invisible zipper 22" (black), Gutermann thread (000), Textureweft interfacing,

Time: 2 months worth of sewing class aka 16 hours
Cost: Fabric $30; Zipper $5; Textureweft $10, Pattern $10, 

Techniques used: 

• Flat catch stitch
• Darts
• Pleats
• Sewing with stretch fabric

Pattern Modification/Adjustments: 

No modifications or adjustments! Fits perfect everywhere. 

I am extremely pleased because I don't have those terrible drag lines in my butt area that I usually get with a fitted skirt (handmade and RTW). I'm putting this down to either me being a 10 in the butt and should start cutting a size 10 or it's the jersey's beautiful drape, bless you jersey. 

If I make this again, I'd like to make a small adjustment to the back, gapes just a tiny bit near the top of zipper.

Not a very photo heavy post, but you can see that this dress is awesome! I feel like such a lady in this dress. I don't own any dresses that are below the knee.

Hello skirt vent! 

This dress is definitely "figure enhancing" and "surprising stylish" - quote PatternReview.com.

Another reason why I'm watching my photo upload on Blogger is because I found out the other week that Blogger has an upload limit and once you reach that limit you won't be able to upload more. Wah. Check out Miss Directions post for tips on uploading pics on to Blogger (here).

So now I make sure that I don't upload duplicates and resize my images using Pic Monkey so I don't exceed my storage limit.

My next project at class with be Burda pants. I can't wait. I'm also working on a dress for my work Xmas party (30th Nov) which I am on track to finish. Have already finished the bodice, took only a few hours. If you follow my Instagram (Neeno_24), you can see some progress pics :) 

Speaking of Xmas, is anyone sewing a 'Christmas' dress? I'm tempted to sew a dress in Christmas fabric, with reindeers or elves on it... 

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Finished Project: "But, Peter, how do we get to Never Land?" "Fly, of course."

'Peter Pan' collar mission complete! 

I am very happy with the result. I wanted to finish the dress by Thursday so I could wear it, but at the same time I promised to take care and take my time. No pressure, no stress. I put the radio on each night and sang along to the nation’s top 30 songs while sewing. I think I am now a One Direction fan.

The perks of living alone and no longer having a gym membership - I finished the dress over three nights. Because I don’t have a live-in BF, pets, kids, or Facebook (haha), I can sew for hours without any interruption. The best. What did I do before sewing????

Day 1: Went to Spotlight to look for a Horn sewing cabinet – came home with fabric instead. Traced pattern, cut fabric, sewed bodice and skirt.

I used the V8469 bodice without the sleeves, and added Peter Pan collars. I followed Gertie’s online tutorial to draft the collar. I put iron-on interfacing on the midriff lining pieces. I stay-stitched every single curvy bit on the bodice. I PFF’d (press flat first). Day 1 blog post here.

Day 2: Cut lining, sewed bodice lining and skirt lining, sewed everything together, bagged the bodice, inserted invisible zip and sewed lining and dress together. Zig zagged my hems. When joining the bodice and lining together, I took great care to make sure the seams matched up. I even unpicked one side because it was a couple of millimetres off. I hate unpicking, but I wanted to finish the dress knowing I put in 100% effort. Now, to the invisible zipper: this time I was awake and alert and I still buggered up the zipper! I only sewed a couple of centimetres and I could see the invisible zipper foot was not doing it’s job. It was malfunctioning!! I used my regular zipper foot instead. It was soooo much better. I had more control over where the needle was going and could see if the zipper was rolled out enough. I’m quite happy with the zipper job.

Day 3: Hemming. I used the twin needle on my machine to finish the hem on the dress.
Sorry, the red is soooo hard to photograph. If I had natural light, it might turn out better.

V8469 bodice with Peter Pan collars and full gathered skirt.
Outside, premium cotton sateen.

V8469 bodice with Peter Pan collars and full gathered skirt.
Inside, sunsilky lining.

I am really addicted to lining. I love how it looks and feels. Sometimes I spend more money on the lining than I do on the dress fabric! I love how it hides all the seam allowances inside and all my ugly backstitching. Maybe when I learn how to operate my overlocker, I won’t be too bothered by seam allowances and can go back to making unlined dresses.

Pattern: V8469 bodice, drafted own collars and own skirt.
Size: Size 6 bodice, graded to size 8 waist.

Skirt info: 

• Length 50cm (54.5cm with 3cm hem and 1.5cm SA)
• Skirt width 2.4.m
• I cut the 2 pieces on the centre fold (60cm wide, from centre to selvege, length 54.5cm). I cut 1 of the pieces in half to make the back of the skirt (needs a back seam)

Fabric: 1.8m premium cotton sateen (red), 1.8m sunsilky lining (red), 0.7m whisperweft interfacing.

Notions: Invisible zipper (hot red) 24", Gutermann thread (156).

Modifications: 

• added Peter Pan collars,
• replaced skirt with full gathered skirt.

Time: About 13 hours, over 3 days.
Total cost: $25 - thanks 30% off sale - (fabric, lining, zip), pattern, whisperweft interfacing, thread from my stash.

TIPS for next time: 

• Maybe make the skirt less wide. 2m wide might be enough,
• Use regular zipper foot for the invisible zip - the invisible zipper foot is... broken.

New techniques learned: 

• Drafted my own collar, thanks to Gertie's online tutorial (part 1, part 2, part 3).

"... pop ya collar, don't let 'em sweat ya ..." - Usher

V8469 bodice with Peter Pan collars, upclose.
Collars, bust gathering, zipper, twin needle on the hemline.

Weekly dressmaking class: In this week’s class, I started tracing my Simplicity 3222 vintage pattern, cut up calico to make a toile/muslin. I’ll sew the toile up during the week. I hope it fits! It’s a size 10, so will fit my waist, just hoping I have enough up top to fill out the bodice! I am very exciting to be sewing with an actual vintage pattern, the paper is so crispy J


Tonight, I'm off to pick up my Horn sewing cabinet. Very excited about that!! My overlocker and sewing machine will now have home-sweet-home..

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Squiggle, squiggle, squiggle, squiggle, squiggle yeah! And a quick zipper tutorial!

I sing that in the tune of LMFAO's song Sexy and I Know It when I look at this fabric... cos the fabric is 'magenta squiggle'. Naming this dress the "3am Squiggle" dress.

A skill that I learnt recently and have used on this dress is inserting an invisible zipper between the dress fabric and the lining, like how the zippers look on RTW. I have been taught that lining can be hand sewed to the dress fabric... but I do it by machine! Clean machine finish :D

My attempt at a tutorial... 

How to insert zipper in a fully lined dress!

Time to insert the invisible zipper
between the fabric and the lining.

Pin the zipper at seam allowance.
2.5cm seam allowance at the back for me.
I have a small back.

Separate the lining and the dress.
Baste zipper on the dress fabric only
(like you would on unlined dress).

Sew zipper with invisible zipper foot.
Repeat on the reverse side.

Flip the lining over so the right sides
of fabric/lining are facing eachother, pin.

Tuck the top bit of the zipper inside so you can sew it in.
Sew lining and dress fabric together close to the zip.

This is how it looks inside out.

Reverse it and voila!
Zipper is between the lining and the fabric.

Now... the finished dress and pattern review!

Do the squiggle, yeah.

I used the fabric I got from Spotlight yesterday and sunsilky lining** that I got for 1/2 price today from Lincraft.
Took 2 hours to cut, 5 hours to sew up the dress, lining, zipper and hem.

**Sunsilky lining: 100% Polyester. Permanently anti-static, treated to breath like a natural fibre.

"Techniques" (which might be normal practice for most seamstresses) that I used on this dress, which I must remember to use all the time cos I love the result so much:

• PFF (press flat first)
• Stay stitch - I always forget to do this!! I will make a mental note to remember
• Zipper inserted between the lining and dress fabric
• Twin needle hem

I'm proud to say that I did not unpick any of my seams! I made zero mistakes with this dress. This is a first! Usually when I sew late at night, I end up having to unpick at some stage, but not tonight. I started sewing at 9pm tonight and finished at 2am. I'm very nocturnal.

I'm also very happy that my front darts, side seams, and zipper all matched perfectly! The back darts were a little off, but that's ok .

Perfectly lined up darts.
M5845 front bodice.

Darts unaligned but the waist matches at the zipper.
M5845 back bodice.

The only modification I made to the pattern was lower the neck by 2" (5cm) and raise the back by 2" (5cm).
Oooh, and I added in-seam pockets!

Drafted my own in-seam pocket pattern.

Pattern Review... 

Pattern: McCall's 5845

Size: Size 6 bodice, graded to size 8 waist, size 6 skirt.

Fabric: 1.2m cotton sateen, 1m sunsilky lining

Notions: Invisible zipper (black) 16", Gutermann thread (000) 

Modifications: 

• Lowered neck by 2"
• Raised back by 2"
• Skirt pieces shortened to 18.5" (3cm hem)
• Added pockets
• Regular (1.5cm) back seam allowance
• Invisible zipper instead of dress zipper
• No vent
• Darts on the inside not outside (damn! I said I would put them outside next time I make this dress, oops).

Time: about 7 hours
Total cost: $14 (fabric, lining and zip), pattern and thread from my stash.

Here are some photos of the inside of the dress.

McCall's 5845

Finished the hems on the machine using the twin needles.

McCall's 5845

I wasn't very keen on the fabric when I saw it, but it was $5/m, so what the heck, I bought it, but I really like it now. At first glance, I thought it looked like a leopard print, but at closer inspection, it looks like blobs of spilt paint, lol. I really like it. Even if it does look like skanky leopard print, the high neck balances it out, haha.

I know I say this about every single dress after I finish making it, but I really love this one. I sewed with a lot of patience and applied techniques that I have learnt at sewing class and by reading online blogs. I guess it shows that I am improving if every new dress tops the last one.

I really like this dress cos it is fitted. It is very rare for me to fit "fitted" RTW dresses... if they fit at the bust and hips then it doesn't zip up at the waist. If it fits the waist, then its loose and yucky at the hips and bust. So glad I can customised my dress to fit my body.

McCall's 5845 (back)

McCall's 5845 (back)

McCall's 5845 with pockets.

Alrighty, off to bed for me :)

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