LhBD - Little Heather Black Dress And an Award!

Well, to start off, Lisa from http://sewrandom.blogspot.com/ has awarded me with the Brillian weblog award! Thank you, Lisa! It does mean a lot to me when fellow sewers notice what I do because it is more than a hobby at this point and somewhere between a passion and obsession:) Secondly, I finally finished the jumper and here is the review:

Pattern: Burda WOF : 09-2007-121

So, it took me awhile to get this jumper done. After finishing the muslin I was not sure if I liked it. With it, for me, everything was about the right choice of fabric. First, I decided to make it from a striped jersey but was not sold on it. Then, I found great heather black wool knit and I just knew that was it!

Fabric: Wool knit and satin lining from Textile-o-philes (a local independent fabric store: http://www.textileophile.com/Home_Page.html) Btw, if you are ever in the Denver/Colorado Springs area - this store is a MUST VISIT! It has an assortment of fabrics comparable to Emma One Sock and better (think silk jersey, angora, camel hair, cashmere, wool knits, designer print silks, designer cottons, etc.)!

Construction details:

- The skirt of the dress is interlined and lined at the same time with medium-weight stretch lining that has a nice tonal satin stripe.
- The hem is finished with lace.
- The lower edge of the bodice band is reinforced with a strip of the lining cut on a bias.
- The fronts are cut not on a fold but as two separate pieces and the front neckline is stabilized and understitched.

So, that is about it. I wrote about my fit and design alteration when I posted my muslin entry, so I won’t repeat myself here. If anyone is interested, pls refer to that older post or to my review on PR.

Having started with immense hesitation, I actually live how the dress turned out! I was afraid it would look dowdy on me but, to my pleasant surprise, it actually looks modern.

Would recommend it to anyone with two caveats:

1. muslin is a must because fixing the fit of the bodice during construction may be a nightmare (due to the way the dress is constructed and sewn), and

2. I had to rethink the placement of the back pleats to flatter my deriere.

Burda WOF 09-2007-121 Jumper: Review Based on my Muslin

I still don’t know if I am going to make this jumper, it would depend largely on whether I find the right fabrics (read towards the end).

Regardless, I made and fitted my muslin:

and this is the magazine photo:

Here are my findings (FYI, I am size 34 at the hips, 36 at the waist and 38 at the bust and 5”4” and I cut the pattern appropriately):

Fitwise:
- spot on at the bust
- too big in the waist: I took in close to 3.5” from the circumference at the top of the band and about 3” at the bottom of the band. This I find to be typical of Burda WOF – too much wearing ease at the waist.
- very slightly larger in the hips: took in about an 1” from the circumference
- the bodice piece was spot on lengthwise
- the skirt piece was 1.5” too long (as expected)

Design:
I read all the reviews on PR (and there are many reviews for this jumper) and noone seems to have been displeases with the pleat in the back skirt, therefore, my observation may be the “just me” kind. Anyway, when I pleated the back skirt as the pattern indicated, I ended up with too poofs right at my derriere, and they were not the right kind of poofs either. I tried several different alternative ways of pleating, including completely removing the pleat (which might work if your rear part is fairly flat) and the best I managed to end up with was two pleats: the first is 1.5” deep and positioned 1” from the CB. The 2nd is placed 2” away from the first and is 1.25” deep. Both are pleated towards the CB.

Construction:
The instructions suggest cutting the front bodice on fold, with the fold being the straight grain. Well, I just don’t see how this is going to make that edge stable and it is a neckline edge. I think you would need to cut 4 front pieces, sew at the neckline and understitch. Also, If I do the jumper, I’ll cut the front and back bodice lining pieces 1/8” smaller all the way around, so that armsye and neckline seam won’t be visible (hope this makes sense).

Fabric:
Well, this one I think is tricky if you are doing a fall-appropriate garment. Weight of the fabric: I think, if 1 is tissue-weight and 10 mid-weight, one should aim for fabric with weight coefficient of 7-8. Otherwise, IMO, there would be a lot of bulk at the seams that connect the bodice to the band and the band to the skirt. Secondly, since at least I wear tights in fall, the skirt part of the dress MUST be either lined with some stretch lining that does not cling or worn with a slip under, one made also from some stretch lining that does not cling. Of course, if you are making a summer jumper (to be worn with a cami), this would be a nonissue.