6.10.2008

Embodiment of professional

I have an embarrassing story to tell. I went to a conference yesterday, Monday. The company that was sponsoring me was kind enough to put me up in a hotel for Sunday night so that I wouldn't have to wake up at the first glimmer of sunlight in order to make it for the Monday session. Excited that I had finished a shirtdress, I knew that nothing else was even in the running for my Monday outfit.

Come Monday morning, I took a shower and when I went to put on my dress I realized, with much shock and dismay, that I had forgotten to bring a bra! True craziness ensued as I figured out exactly how one can manage to look professional without a bra. I ended up wearing a tank top (the one I used to sleep in, yes, I am also the embodiment of clean) underneath the dress to sort of help smoosh and hold the girls in place. I think it ended up okay. When I got home I asked B if it was noticeable and he said he could hardly tell. Whew!

That being said, I came home and took some pictures of the dress. But this time, I put on a bra and took off the tank top (it sort of clashed anyways).

Burda WOF 06/2007 #139
Burda 06_2007 #139


Pattern:
Burda WOF 06/2007 #139 -- New style for a feminine classic! Evelin Brandt's new-look shirtwaister has short, slightly puffed sleeves. The waist seam has been decoratively dropped and the skirt section is slightly flared. A wide black hemband and a narrow black petersham/grosgrain belt are great eye-catchers.

Size: 38

Fabric: 2.5 yards of cotton voile from Fabric Mart. I was totally drawn to the watercolor-ness of this print.

Construction Details: I used thread tracing for this project as there are many subtle curves and it was my first time doing this sort of collar so I really wanted to do what I could to make it turn out right. I also underlined the dress with a thin black cotton fabric. Both of these decisions resulted in a much longer project time than expected (this was one of the garments I tried to make for my vacation).


Two things that I find a little wonky are:
1. The collar. You can't really tell in these pictures but it sort of sticks up and doesn't lay flat like the Burda model's dress?

orig

I went back to the instructions and it recommends a "lightweight fluid dress fabric." Is cotton voile not considered lightweight and fluid? Confused. Please help. It might be my interfacing too but I used a pretty lightweight knit fusible which I thought was appropriate. Maybe it wasn't?

2. The sleeve cap. The front of the sleeve cap didn't quite fit to the body. The instructions make no mention of having to ease this half of the cap and the line drawing doesn't show any gather lines but I definitely needed to ease the cap in, in order for it to fit. I double checked my traced patterns and they are exactly as drawn so I'm not sure what happened here either.

I made a self fabric tie and braided it so that it would stand out from the busyness of the print although I will probably end up wearing this most with store bought belts. I wore the braided fabric belt to the conference and I think it still looked okay.

The buttons were so hard to pick out. I'm really bad at these details and it took me forever to find something I liked. I ended up with shell buttons because I think they sort of pick up all the colors in the dress without camouflaging into it. I'm still open to ideas if you guys can think of a better button option.

And lastly, I obviously hemmed it shorter than the Burda dress and omitted the bottom band and zipper. I can easily pull the dress on over my head when the top is unbuttoned.

Overall: I really like the fit of this dress. The bodice is great and I think very flattering. I don't know if I'll make it again anytime soon, but if I ever need another shirtdress I'll definitely keep this pattern in mind.

burda 06_2007 #139



19 comments:

Gorgeous Things said...

Fabulous job on the dress, and good save with the cami! But I have to ask - where did you get the shoes? They are beyond fabulous!

soknitpicky said...

I like it! And really, if everyone *else* was being professional, they wouldn't be noticing the girls anyway, heh, heh! :-)

loopylulu said...

Thanks you guys! The shoes are Nine West, Sulliban. They are pretty darn comfortable too.

cidell said...

Hmm, my new thing (not that I've done it yet) is to start using muslin or orgazna for collar interfacings. I'm not sure why yours does not lay flat. All I can think / wonder is if it was understitched?

Lori said...

Fantastic dress, the fabric and the style are wonderful. I would think your fabric would be the right weight and think (with Cidell) what about understitching?

Summerset said...

Yikes - great save! The dress and fabric are perfect for each other.

Christina said...

So, so pretty! And the underlining - so delicate and dreamy. Re: the collar, not sure why you are having an issue with it sticking up, I think cotton voile is a perfectly fine choice for a "lightweight, fluid fabric". So maybe it's the interfacing. I never test that stuff ahead of time like you're supposed to.

BTW - I almost bought those shoes! Instead I got a similar pair (also 9 West) because the heel was 0.25" shorter according to Zappos. I just cannot do 4" heels!

Anonymous said...

ah, good save indeed, I love that fabric it is so beautiful, great dress

ceregana said...

I think the dress is perfect on you. Great print and it is a bit unusual shirt dress.
I loved the shoes immediately too!

annaminiac said...

love the shoes too! I thought you had to be a model giantess (or SJP) to pull off those type of shoes, but you've proved that average height people can wear them too!

Tany said...

Beautiful dress, I love it!!!

Kitty Couture said...

Beautiful dress and you look hot with these shoes!

Anonymous said...

That is such a beautiful dress, it's amazing. Great job!!

Cleo

Anonymous said...

The dress is so wonderful. I adore that fabric.

Carolyn (Diary of a Sewing Fanatic) said...

Your dress is beautiful!!! You know I looked at that fabric several times, even put it in the cart once but in the end I didn't buy it...now I wish I had!

Anonymous said...

I love that dress and those shoes are AWESOME!!

KimT said...

love the dress!

Adrienne said...

I just did a search for this dress and yours came up! LOVE IT!!!

BCN - UNIQUE designer patterns said...

Greetings from Spain. Now I who visit you and I can enjoy this wonderful blog that you have. I hope you can understand me, I have to use the online translator to communicate well in English, thank you. A hug from Barcelona and see you soon, Paco