This year has been so great, I've had the opportunity to meet some of my far away sewing friends in person and to meet many new stitchers in my classes. Next year will likely have some new adventures that I can't even imagine right now.
And so as usual I've made a new dress in a festive color. Plus gone a bit silly with adding the holiday border and turned it into my Christmas greeting to you. Keep reading for all the sewing and pattern details.
The pattern is Burda Magazine 104-September-2019. This dress is a ponte knit with a subtle print - probably not visible in the photo above but it shows more in the following images. I'm not a fan of ponte - they sometimes seem a bit clammy so as I was sewing this I thought "well I will finish it as I like the color but I'm probably not going to wear it". Famous last words, right? As I can get over the slight poly feel since the color is so nice and it holds it's shape with not a wrinkle in sight.
A closer look so you can see the print and also the seam plus dart details. This dress is quite simple to make, it went together very well once I figured out how to sew that darts/seam situation. Here's a look at that section of the front pattern piece plus the side inset.
I couldn't figure out how the dart plus waist seam worked, and since I never look at the instructions I tried to puzzle through. However I thought perhaps they had some of their usual jumble of words describing how to sew - but no! a holiday miracle - there was a little diagram complete with scissors showing where to cut (on that dotted line) and then it worked perfectly. I guess I should follow my own advice sometimes and just read through in case :)
Here's something new to me - this dress was in Burda Petite sizes 17-21 which according to the measurement page in the magazine are the same as sizes 34-42 other than the height difference. (5'3" for petite and 5'6" for regular) So not really any difference other than I didn't have to remove an extra 6 inches at the hem. Actually that was nice! I also have short arms so the sleeve was full length on me and as you can see in the magazine photo it is more a wrist length sleeve.
This type of fabric makes it super quick to sew, no seam finishes needed as it is a stable knit. I also decided that a zipper was not needed so I changed the back to a short opening with a snap.
I made a facing for the neckline and had it continue down about 5 inches so I could make the back neck opening.
This dress also has darts at the elbow which is nice feature I guess - it does make the sleeve conform more to the arm and the sleeves are nice and narrow. So often I make jackets or dresses and the sleeves are way too wide for me all over the arm. What do you think of my sneaky back neck closure? I don't like a button with loop, it's too fussy to make and to fasten. Or I'm just lazy :)
This dress would be fantastic in wool crepe or even a sweater knit. I think I might keep this in the active file - I can see making it sleeveless in a cotton sateen as a summer dress. Here I am contemplating summer sewing on the shortest day of the year. My words to live by - when winter is here then spring is on its way 🌞.
So that's the seasonal sewing accomplished. Up next I just cut out some pants in a wool, as I had fabric leftover when I made this jacket. No I don't really need a business-y suit like that but it seemed like a fun way to use the rest of that fabric and work on my pants fit. And warm pants are always nice to have in the wardrobe.
This won't be the last post of 2019, after finishing my shopping/wrapping/baking and the actual Christmas celebrating, I plan to do a big clean up of my sewing space (resolutions, right?) and get ready for a few sewing challenges in the new year.
Plus a look back at my sewing for 2019 with a bit of analysis plus some ideas for 2020.
Time to run - those presents won't wrap themselves!
Merry Christmas to everyone 🎄🎄🎄
Beth
Today's garden photo, taken back in July and I wish I had some of these roses right now, I could make a perfect holiday table arrangement. But they are all gone and with just the rose hips left on the bush. This is a climbing rose that I put in to fill in the space after getting the fence replaced where the pink jasmine was looking a bit sparse. It has exceeded my expectations with masses of flowers all summer and I will be on the lookout for another one in January.
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