burda

Burda 104C 02/2017

Culottes are something I never imagined I’d want to wear. I hesitate to say they’ve come back into fashion because I wouldn’t know, but they have certainly started to look appealing recently. It may just be the effect of swapping fashion magazines for Burda and pattern catalogues.

These ones are Burda 104C 02/2017. They are a very high waisted style with front pleats and a tie belt. They are more like cropped wide legged trousers than what I normally think of as culottes. Dr T made a great version of this pattern that moved them right to the top of my sewing list.

Mine are made in viscose crepe from Truro Fabrics. It’s more drapey than I think the pattern is designed for but it’s what I had in the stash. The fabric requirements say ‘trouser fabrics with some body’. The crepe gives them wonderful movement but some of the details like the belt loops and the high waist would have been better in a crisper fabric.

One slightly odd detail is the fake back pockets. I think trousers usually look better with some sort of detail on the backside but there’s something not quite right about these. I think they’re a bit too small and also need to be higher up. But that might not be the pattern’s fault: the whole garment is sitting lower on me than it should. This style of trouser cannot stay in place if there’s any ease in the waist at all; I should have realised that and traced the waist a size smaller than I did. As it is the whole thing slips down a few inches on me.

The really good thing about these are the huge hip pockets. They look fine even when fairly full of junk because the style is so voluminous. The tie belt is nice too although it’s come out much longer than I expected. I usually cut them a little longer than the pattern suggests but I don’t remember adding that much length. Unless I tie a bow the ends are down by my ankles. Dramatic, but not the most practical of features.

I interfaced the waist facings and fly underlap with Vilene F220 and used a mystery lightweight stretch woven interfacing on the pocket edges. I could have done with putting lightweight interfacing on the fly facings too and maybe the hem area.

I doubt I’ll make this particular pattern again soon but I love the wide legged silhouette. I’ve got my eye on a few other Burda patterns with a similar shape.

Cognitive dissonance – Burda 103-07-2010

I usually blog about projects very soon after I’ve finished them; often before I’ve worn the garment in ‘real life’. These trousers are an exception I finished them a couple of weeks ago and have lost count of the number of wears they’ve had. They’re one of my current favourites. And yet, when I come to look at the photos, they just aren’t quite right.

The pattern is my tweaked version of Burda 103-07-2010, which I’ve made many times before. They are jeans style trousers with the side seams shifted a long way forward and a section seam down the back of the leg. I have lowered the rise about 5cm from the original pattern, and added a bit around the hips. The fit is all kinds of wrong and has been in every version I’ve made. Lots of excess fabric under the bum and the legs are too long.

I am forever cursed to make trousers that are too long because of years of not being able to find RTW with sleeves and legs long enough. I’m so afraid of cutting anything too short that I always end up erring on the other side.

The fabric is unusual: a blackish stretch denim with some dark gold metallic threads. Unfortunately the metallic threads are a bit irritating to the skin so I always have to wear leggings underneath these, but it was easier to sew with than many metallic fabrics I’ve tried. It washed beautifully and didn’t mind being pressed even on a high heat. The fabric was unusually narrow for denim and I needed every scrap of two metres to make these. I bought it on Goldhawk Road last year. The sparkle is fairly subtle in real life; these pictures were taken in glaring sunlight.

The fly front on these gave me no end of trouble. I’d shortened the rise on the original pattern, but I think I must have forgotten that when I consulted Burda’s instructions to find out what length zip to buy. The zip is far too long and that led to me ripping out the fly and restitching it some ridiculous number of times. I don’t notice it when I’m wearing it but you can probably see it’s out of proportion in the picture below.

So they were massively aggravating to sew, they don’t fit right, and if I’m honest they’re not exactly the most flattering pair of trousers I own. I don’t think the unusual side seam position is doing me any favours. But I suspect I’ll carry on wearing them a lot; they’re comfortable and practical. I think it might be time to move on from this pattern at last and try one of the many other Burda options for slim trousers next time though.

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Never say never again: Burda 115-09-2012

Last year I rashly said I was done with a particular pattern – Burda 115-09-2012. I’d made two versions, one silver and one green. Neither was a perfect fit and I was fed up of fiddling with the pattern and wanted to move onto something new. But come 2017 I found myself looking for a pattern for a practical pair of trousers; something with pockets that you can wear with boots and sit on the floor in. It’s much easier to use a pattern you’ve already traced so out came 115-09-2012 for a third try.

Here’s the line art for 115 and the variant style 116. My latest version is a cross between the two styles. They have the same main pattern pieces but differ in details. I took the horizontal in-seam pockets from 115 and the top-stitching and belt loops from 116. I made the pockets larger than the ones on the pattern in order to be able to fit my phone in.

There are no side seams on this pattern below the hip; the curved panels swoop around to the back and there’s a seam down the back of the leg. I went for contrast top-stitching to make the seam details stand out. The fabric is a lightweight non-stretch grey denim from Truro Fabrics (now sold out) and the top-stitching thread is Gutermann top-stitch in shade 968, “denim gold”. The fabric could have done with being a touch heavier, or perhaps just more tightly woven. I didn’t iron the trousers for the photos, and they’d had two days of wear so they’re a little creased and baggy at the knees.

The top-stitching was quite time consuming. It really helped that I had my second machine set up for that so I didn’t have to keep switching thread colours and needles on the main machine. I made good use of the ditch-stitching foot for many of the straight lines, but those back yoke curves had to be free-handed which took a couple of attempts to get right.

Here’s a closeup of the front. There’s a little bit of puckering on the waistband seam that I couldn’t quite steam out. It’s only on one side so I guess I accidentally stretched the yoke out there.

And the back. I’m pleased with the way it came out.

I’m much happier with the fit on these than the previous two pairs. However the pockets are gapping a bit. I wish I’d interfaced the front yoke as that might have helped. I do have things in both pockets in these photos though which contributes to the gapping. People who can manage with trousers without working pockets could sew them shut but I’ll take gappy working pockets over perfect fake ones any time.

I’m very happy with these. I might even make another pair one day if the right piece of denim comes my way! A few notes:

Vilene H250 interfacing on waistband and fly facing
Size 90 denim needle for main seams
Size 100 denim needle and Gutermann 968 denim gold top-stitch thread for top-stitching
Size 90 stretch needle for overlocking
YKK 13cm lightweight metal trouser zip (size 3 teeth)

Should have known better: Burda 127-10-2014

Here’s a make that didn’t work out, Burda 127-10-2014. The annoying thing is that most of the problems were entirely predictable, had I thought about the pattern more carefully in advance. But I was carried away by the cute raglan seaming, the exposed zip, the pockets, and the roomy silhouette. Here’s the line art. Have a good look, maybe you’ll see what I missed.

It’s basically rectangular, and the bagginess only goes so far in accomodating my current shape, but that’s not the issue. The pockets are nice and big which is a point in its favour. I somehow managed to cut the sleeve bands horribly off-grain which is why they’re twisting, and they were a pain to insert because the polyester crepe I used does not tolerate even the smallest size mismatch. But none of that is the fault of the pattern.

The problem is the shoulder line. Look what happens when I move my arms. The shoulder line creases and the whole dress moves up. The shoulder line is so dropped and curved that there’s no way you can lift your arms and hence the sleeves without lifting the rest of dress. And the shape of the shoulder is quite clear on the line art so this shouldn’t have been a surprise; I just didn’t spot it in advance.

Some of the pulling is clearly being made worse by the distorting effect of my bump. Look at that drag line.

Just for completeness, here’s the back complete with exposed zip. The back is so plain it really needs that zip detail. I’m slightly surprised Burda didn’t repeat the raglan seaming on the back to add a bit of interest.

I often have trouble getting the right zip for a project but for once for once I got lucky. I found this one on eBay. The tape colour is almost an exact match for the fabric and the puller is a bit different: a short chain with a ball on the end rather than the usual zip puller. The back of the dress is so plain it needs all the help it can get. I didn’t do the greatest job inserting the zip but it looks OK from a distance. The neck binding isn’t great either because the fabric I used was a bit too heavy for the pattern and so the binding pattern piece didn’t have enough turn-of-cloth allowance.

I am going to put this dress away until after the baby and see if it’s any more comfortable when the bump isn’t taking up all the extra space in it.

Gold and silver: Burda 130-06-201

This is Burda 130-06-2010, the first real maternity pattern I’ve made. I have to say I cannot tell the difference between the fit on this and some of the blocky women’s dress styles you can find in any issue of Burda. I thought it might have extra width around the bump area, but when I traced the pattern it was essentially rectangular. The zip serves no purpose that I can see.

I picked the style because I like the notched collar, and it looked simple enough to sew up fast. I cannot say whether the instructions were any good because the pattern came from a German language copy of Burda 06/2010 I bought on eBay. When I bought it I thought I might be able to get some help with the construction from Google Translate but what came out was so confused it might as well have still been in German for all the good it did me. I found that comparing the instructions in an English language Burda with the German issue and looking up a few important nouns was much more helpful. The structure is exactly the same in English and German so you can tell what each paragraph is about from the order they come in. Based on that I was at least able to find out which pattern pieces had seam allowances included and what to add to those that didn’t.

The intended method of construction for the collar remained something of a mystery. There seemed to be two possibilities: sew the shoulder seams, attach the lower collar facing to the lower neckline first and then construct the rest of the collar as you would a notched jacket collar; or make up the whole collar unit first including all the facings and then stitch the lot to the dress. There is no back neck facing and the neckline seam is finished with binding, so either would work.

In the end I went for the second option, using the instructions for the collar on my black Burda jumpsuit to help construct the collar. Then I sewed the shoulder seams, attached the collar to the neckline, and bound the collar seam. Finally I sewed the side seams, adding side seam pockets which are not in the original pattern, and hemmed the armsyces and bottom edge. It seems to have come out OK! The neckline seam isn’t totally smooth around that deep v neck but the collar covers the puckers. I should have used a smaller seam allowance around the collar instead of Burda’s standard 1.5cm and then maybe I could have got it in flat. Next time.

The fabric is a lovely golden coloured cotton poplin from Misan Textiles; a birthday present from my parents. The original dress was also made in poplin but the collar looks softer than mine. I used Vilene F220 to interface my collar, which is a lightweight fusible, but Burda’s version used G785 which is even lighter than F220 and also has some stretch.

This dress benefits from being worn with a loose belt to contain some of the volume above the bump. Partly that’s because the cotton has quite a bit of body; I wanted something crisp. I think you could also make this up in a drapier fabric and then you wouldn’t need a belt. Years ago I had a similarly shaped ready to wear dress – no darts at all – made from a navy artificial silk that never needed a belt, although it probably wasn’t quite as wide as this one as I remember it being a bit of a wriggle to get on as it didn’t have a zip. I wore that one until the seams started to give way.

I added in-seam pockets.

I’m happy with this and I love the colour. It’s just occurred to me that if I’d bothered to put in the zip I could convert it later on by adding some darts, but a belt is fine too. And now I have enough clothes that fit to get me through a working week again.

Orange x-wrap dress

Here’s version 2 of Burda 106-04-2014, the x-wrap dress. This one is made in one of the most awkard fabrics I have ever tried to sew: a very lightweight, slightly sheer silk. I normally steer well clear of such things but it was a very cheap bolt end in the sale room at Misan Textiles, there was just enough of it for the pattern, and I couldn’t turn down that almost fluorescent orange colour.

I hate cutting out shifty fabric. I did a bit of googling for tips for dealing with lightweight fabrics. A lot of sites suggest spray starch but there seems to be no consensus as to whether you should press starched fabric with or without steam, and lots of warnings about potentially burning the starch and marking the fabric if you get the iron too hot. Eventually I came across this recipe for using gelatine to stiffen chiffon before cutting and sewing. The method seemed pretty clear and sensible so I gave it a go – thanks Jo! The gelatine I could get came was in leaves rather than a powder and was ‘platinum grade’ – apparently there are lots of other grades available and they have different setting power which makes it kind of tricky to substitute. I think I used three leaves to three litres of water. It certainly stiffened the fabric and made it a lot easier to cut and sew. The downside is that you can’t use any steam when pressing or the fabric might go sticky. And the fabric didn’t press well without steam as you can see from the generally wavy effect. I washed the dress once it was finished but it doesn’t seem to have completely removed the gelatine as the fabric is still less fluid than it was when I bought it. On the upside it doesn’t wrinkle as badly as I thought it would. These photos were taken after wearing the dress all day. I didn’t press it at all before we went out to take them, so what you have here is what it really looks like after a day’s wear. Maybe more washing will gradually soften it up again.

I already posted about my fitting and facing changes but I also left out the zip as it’s not needed, and slip-stitched the shawl collar down to the outer neckline seam to make it stay put. I couldn’t use interfacing with this fabric so the sharp points where the wrap pieces grow out of the front of the dress are reinforced with bias squares of the outer fabric sewn to the wrong side along the seamlines. I kept the inseam pockets, which are a lot easier to sew when you don’t put a zip in the seam right next to a pocket.

I tried to take a little more care with the hem on this version but it’s even worse than the brown one: uneven and very wavy. I hoped it would look a bit better after washing the dress and pressing with steam but no. I’m not going to unpick it as I don’t think a second attempt’s likely to be much better and the fabric might not survive the experience. It looks less fragile in the pictures than it is in real life.

I don’t think this is as successful as the brown version, but it’s a perfectly wearable summer dress (well OK, wearable with a slip) and I love the colour. The fitting changes seem to have worked too. Two copies of this pattern is enough for now, but it’s one I might go back to at some point.

Fitting the Burda x-wrap dress

Burda 106-04-2014

This was my first version of Burda 106-04-2014. No sooner than it was finished I started working on a second one and took the opportunity to tweak the pattern a little. The version above isn’t bad, but the sleeves are a little constricting and I felt I could do with a bit more room in the bust. I don’t know you’re meant to do a full bust adjustment on this sort of pattern but here’s what I’ve done. The picture below is the front pattern piece, which is cut on the fold.

Burda 106-04-2014 front pattern piece

In the pictures below red areas are bits I’ve added and blue is where I have taken away. I slid a chunk of the front out sideways to give a bit more bust room, and reduced the shoulder width so that the shoulder seam would be sitting on my shoulder point rather than slightly over it.

Burda 106-04-2014 alterations

Those two changes affected the length of the armscye so I had to make the sleeve wider to match. No bad thing as the original sleeves felt slightly tight; I’d been planning to flatten the sleeve cap anyway.

Burda 106-04-2014 sleeve alterations

That’s it for fitting alterations, but the fabric I’m using is slightly transparent and so I also needed to do something about the neckline finish. The original design has a skinny back neck facing which is a single interfaced layer, overlocked on the outer edge. That clearly isn’t going to look good in a sheer fabric. Also the facing didn’t behave well on the first version and had to be top-stitched down to keep it in place.

I did a bit of snoop shopping to see how this sort of thing would be handled in ready to wear clothes. I found very few summer dresses with facings. Most were lined. A few, mainly in casual fabrics, had the neckline seam covered with a strip of binding. The ones which did have facings all had a centre back zip with the facings sewn to the zip tape to hold them down. The facings themselves were invariably much wider than those on the Burda design.

I didn’t fancy trying to bind the neckline seam in slippery silk, and I had nothing to line the dress with, so I had to stick with a facing. Although the original design has no centre back seam I had already had to add one because of a shortage of fabric, so I figured I could sew the facing to the seam allowances on that or stitch in the ditch to hold it in place. To try to make it look nicer I made the facings much wider around the neck than the original and cut two copies of each piece. Those then get sewn right sides together at the outer edge and turned out to give a facing with slightly more body than a single layer and a very clean finish to the edge.

Burda 106-04-2014 facing alterations

And here’s what it looks like. Acceptable if not brilliant, and probably the best I could manage with lightweight silk. It is not well-pressed for excellent reasons I shall go into in my next post, and I should have done a french seam on the centre back but life’s too short. It’s wearable and the facings stay put and that’ll do.

Facings on orange x-wrap dress

Next up, modelled finished object pictures.