Here’s the orange balloon dress, Burda 106-05-2010 with some modifications. It really is that colour. I haven’t edited the photos at all. You can probably see it from space. Although rather to my surprise the comment I got most when wearing it at work was to ask if I’m advertising beer!
I am very pleased with it, especially the inseam pockets I added to the style. The dress is so puffy you can carry a lot of stuff without it showing.
The zip is bright blue. I was originally looking for a beige one but there were none to be had. Incidentally, why is it so difficult to get longer zips? Most dress patterns I own call for a 22″ zip but there’s very little choice in that length in the shops I have access to. Where does everyone else in the UK buy their zips?
I was persuaded to buy the blue zip on the grounds that if you have to have a colour that won’t fade into the background it had better actually go with orange.
I’m glad I did because Burda’s instructions leave the zipper tape exposed on the inside. I think the blue tape looks much better than beige would have done.
I don’t think the shoulder yokes add much to the style though. Maybe I should have topstitched them to make them more visible. The fit’s not perfect. I think the problem is that my FBA wasn’t quite enough so it’s a little tight around the chest. It shows more from the back. More detail about my fit alterations in my pattern review (link may not work for non-PR members for ever).
Not sure if I’ll make this again or not. At first I thought that I definitely only need one dress this shape, but it grew on me quite a bit after wearing it for a day. It’s very comfortable. Maybe if the right fabric comes along I’ll make another of these.
I am not cured of orange though. And if I can find some suitable cotton twill I have another orange dress in mind.
Catherine Daze's Blog 
Magnificent! And I like it with the shoes. I may try this pattern.
I get my zips locally but I’ve been lucky so far that they’ve been relatively boring colours, except when I needed an acid green one and had to settle for a contrasting pink. Even John Lewis had boring colours. There’s a better choice online, but the p&p is sometimes steep, and the colours inaccurate. Oh well…
Right, I’m off to the Albert Hall to hear the angels singing (Crosby, Stills and Nash). Have a good week!
I like the sound of pink and green!
I’ll have to go to the PSB gig in Notts at the end of the month and nick a few of Chris Lowe goggles for you. I’m sure he wouldn’t miss a pair. That is unless they were the pair he was wearing whilst playing the keyboards. Only joking. His glasses and caps are like his babies.
Am I missing something? Even after following the beer link I don’t get it. If someone said are you advertising Tango or Iron Bru I could understand it. Think I may have been in Westfield far too long today. My brain has mushed as I was being attacked by some bloke and his pot plant in the Starbucks queue. The leaves were razor sharp.
I’d never heard of the brand either but according to a Dutch colleague they always use bright orange in their advertising. Let’s hope the beer isn’t that colour 🙂
RE: Zips
When I worked in the charity shop quite often people would trawl through the reduced items or if we had a fill a bag for a pound section looking for zips and buttons. We used to get odd zips etc. You might even be able to recycle the materail . That would be a bonus. Might be useful to get friendly with people in your local charity shops or even your local clothing alteration place s they may know where to get them from. Sometimes after a trawl round you may end up with nothing but then again you might find just the thing to add to your stash.
I am p****d off. I can only access your blog through this page. All other pages say it cannot make a secure connection. Are you trying to tell me something !!!!!!! Just been taking to a pal and she come up with a bizarre way of dress making. She takes a lining material and then either puts a netting over or some nylon fabric and then burns the outer net/material. It’s a bit trial and error but she has come up with some amazing pieces. She doesn’t always use for the complete dress. Some times she’ll just do it on the bodice bit or for the bust down bit. Don’t know what you call that bit. Embellishments are also another good idea if you have plenty of time on your hands.