Burda 7-2009-104 My Plaid Shirred Dress Finished!

I was determined to get this dress finished to wear to church this morning. Last night, at about 11 PM, my husband came in and asked if I was going to be finished soon. I told I thought I would be finished soon. Silly me! I finished 5 hours later. Guess I not a very good judge of how long my projects take. I really enjoyed this project. I learned a lot. As I said before there were many parts that I had never done before. I thought I would take you through how they went.

1. Shirring-I used elastic thread and zig zagged over it. I really liked my plaid fabric. I was able to follow right along the line which made it very easy. I was pleased with how easy this was to do.

2. Welt pockets-These went pretty well. I used "Sew any Set in Pocket" by Claire Shaffer to help. One of my pockets looks pretty good (picture below) the other one overlapped a bit at the end. I liked how the had me construct the inside of the pocket. Burda's instructions were understandable for someone who hasn't done it before (me).

3. Flat Felled Seam-Boy, did I have trouble with this one. For some silly reason I had great difficulty getting my head wrapped around this one. Finally, I remembered to look in "Shirtmaking" by David Page Coffin for some help. After a few attempts I finally got something that resembled a flat felled seam. This was definitely the biggest stretch on this project.

4. Collar with stand-I referenced "Shirtmaking" for this also. Understanding the pictures took a bit but finally I got a collar that turned out really well. I really liked this method. My edgestitiching actually looked pretty good on the inside doing it his way.

5. Blind Hem-Just as I was about to hem the dress I decided to do a blind hem (about 3 AM) that I had never tried before. I consulted my sewing book by Simplicty to find out how to do it. It was so easy! I had no idea. It looks great on my dress.

So, here it is. My plaid shirred dress: Burda 7-2009-104.

Front of Dress

Back of Dress

Pattern Description: What an enchanting, feminine shirt-waister! With roll-up raglan sleeves front button fastening and lightweight fabric it's sure to become one of your favorites. Elastic shirring at the sides gently sculpts it to your waist.

Pattern Sizing: 36-44 My bust measures a size 40 while my waist and hip measure size 44. I decided to make size 40. I didn't want there to be too much fabric since I was using a heavier fabric than suggested. I really like how it ended up fitting.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? It looked very much like the picture.

Were the instructions easy to follow? They were kind of easy to follow. I liked the pocket instructions (I did use other sources for the actual welt part). Now that I am looking back at them they are quite sketchy. They are fine if you know how already to do the different parts of the construction. Since I didn't know how to do the welt I looked at another source.

Welt Pocket

I also used Shirtmaking by David Page Coffin with pictures for constructing the collar.

Collar with Stand

I was able to easily construct the dress (with a bit of extra help) so the instructions were easy enough.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I liked so many parts but my favorite is the waist shirring.

Front Shirring The raglan sleeves were very easy. This pattern is drafted very well. All the pieces fit together perfectly.

Fabric Used: Cotton woven plaid. I really liked using the plaid. This really helped keep everything on grain. I was able to match the front and the top arm seam. I also matched the collar and stand.

Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made: I didn't change anything.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? This is a great pattern. I really liked the finished result. I probably wouldn't make a second of the same design though. Another great thing about this dress is that it can really look different in so many ways. Check out Christina's version and Dawn's version to see two other very different looks.

Conclusion: Great dress! This was a fun challenge to make. I hadn't done shirring, welt pockets, or flat felled seams. I have made shirt collars before but not very well. This was my first try with Coffin's method. It turned out well for my first try. I am very pleased with this dress. I think it will become one of my favorites just like Burda said.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a blessed day!

Until next time...

Easter Dress Complete!

Saturday was a crazy day. I spent all day sewing. That was so much fun. My husband took my kids out for a bit for and Easter Egg Hunt. It was nice to have some quiet. I finished my daughters Easter dress. The hand stitching took longer than I thought it would on Saturday evening. It was such a relief to have it done. I spent about 3 weeks consistently working on this dress. I don't think that my daughter appreciates me or this dress as I think that she should. She didn't bow down and hail my greatness when she put it on. What's up with that??!! LOL! I didn't get a great picture of the dress because she was busy on her treasure hunt and we were madly getting ready for church. I am going to take her for some more professional pictures sometime to get better pictures of the dress.

The pattern is from Austrailian Smocking & Embroidery Magazine #57. It is a combination of two dresses, Angelique and Field of Flowers (shown on cover). I used the smocking pattern from Angelique but I added the flowers in the middle. To lengthen it I added a contrasting band at the bottom. I hid the stitching for the band under tucks. I love how these patterns are written. They are easy to follow and they have you do some great techniques. I absolutely loved how this turned out. It is such a class little girl dress. To me it looks like that I bought it in an expensive boutique and not homemade.

On to Saturday Project #2 The Cape: I finished this also. It took me longer than I thought it would. I am such a horrible judge of how long a project will take. Anyway, I had it all completed it looked great. I put it on my dress form to steam it. I will not talk about what happened next. It is too upsetting. Next subject.

Project #3 didn't get started. I didn't have time to do anything with my skirt except look over the pattern and wash the fabric. I am hoping to get to it this week. I have been knitting the last couple of nights so I haven't started this yet.

Possible projects this week: Skirt and a fitted shirt. We will see what happens.

Thank you so much for stopping by. Have a great day!

Until next time...