More Burda dresses: Burda 116 09/2014

I’ve been working on this shirt dress for about a month now. It’s Burda 116 09/2014. This has been on my Burda to-sew list for a long time, but I struggled to find the right fabric. Burda’s version is in grey chambray. The variant design (tunic length, with a hood instead of a collar) is made in wool muslin – a fabric I don’t think I have ever encountered in the wild.

Mine’s ivory stretch cotton poplin from Tissu fabrics. This makes it more of a big shirt than a shirt dress – at least that’s how I’m intending to wear it. I had the fabric in stash, left over from a very full-skirted McCalls shirt dress I made a while ago, and eventually realised it would work for this. There was only just enough and I had to piece the drawstring casing. It’s so satisfying to only have tiny scraps left over though.

This is a dress with a lot going on. I find a lot of sewing patterns have much less detail than equivalent ready-to-wear garments, but this one can’t be accused of that. About the only thing missing is a back yoke. I haven’t got any modelled pictures yet, but here are closeups of all the crunchy details.

The collar is unusual. It’s a band collar, but it stops where the front placket starts instead of overlapping. This makes for quite a weak point at that sharp inward corner between the band and the placket. I’m a bit concerned it won’t wear well and I think next time I’d add some interfacing there.

There are patch pockets on the front, which I suspect are more decorative than useful, and side seam pockets too.

And then there’s a drawstring at the waist. Don’t look too hard at the buttonhole position; it’s too high. It won’t show when the drawstring is tied though.

The back is plain apart from the drawstring casing at the waist. I think a back yoke would be a nice addition but I’m way too lazy to adjust the pattern.

I love the hem treatment. There is a very deep hem facing which gives a completely clean finish. A weighty hem is so much nicer on this kind of dress than a narrow one.

The sleeves are finished with elastic in a casing instead of cuffs. I like how it echoes the waist.

I’m looking forward to figuring out how to style this. I might try it over my silver jeans or my grey Oxford bags. Lots of possibilities. Ideas welcome!

15 thoughts on “More Burda dresses: Burda 116 09/2014”

  1. Very nice! A shirtdress that looks quite modern. I love the unusual collar but you are right about the possibly weak spot. Let us know in a few months how it’s holding up as i would like to try that collar at some point. Can’t wait to see how you style it as i can’t come up with any ideas myself (my usual problem, i’m afraid)

  2. Thhat’s a cool one- I love the collar. That deep faced hem has been appearing on lots of Style Arc patterns over the last couple of years, and it is a very nice finish.
    I’m trying to visualise ‘wool muslin’ and suspect it may be one of those confusions over terminology, as when UK and US fabric types clash. Have you been able to look closely at the pics of the garment? It may give a clue if you can zoom in enough to see surface texture…

  4. You did a great job with this – a lot of precision top-stitching and fussy work with the collar paid off. Enjoy!

  5. That’s really nice – but I agree that you may create a weak point with that collar design even though it’s gorgeous. The tie through the waistline is a great feature. I’m sure you’ll wear this loads 🙂

      4. I almost fell off my feet when I visited the Swiss fabric company’s IG account, as they are based in St. Gallen, where my maternal family is from. And they were lace merchants, to boot!

  8. I love that collar, too. In Vogue designer patterns, stress points such as the meeting point of the collar with the front bands are often reinforced along the seam line with very small stitches. I find this helps reduce stress on the fabric, as the thread – which is stronger – takes up most of it.

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