Burda Style 01-2012-144 – Kid’s Jumpsuit Costume

Just look at that face! Yeah, this is one happy boy, and he’s had to wait soooo long for this almost UFO to be finished.

This costume jumpsuit is a modified Burda Style pattern, it’s actually a spacesuit pattern from way back to January 2012. But Henry wanted an army costume with large pockets on the legs and up on top, similar to a RTW police costume that he’s had for years but is now just too small to get into.

All the main pieces were cut out and ready to go, but I didn’t have anything for the pockets. And so it lingered on my sewing work table, since before last Christmas. Not good! Eventually a search through my stash of Burda magazines yielded the right stuff.

 

 

The large billows pockets and flaps on the legs are from a boy’s shorts pattern, Burda Style 04-2010-131. They have a separate piece (long strip) sewn around the sides and bottom to add volume, and were actually really easy to assemble. I’ll keep this pocket pattern for future makes. I know, it’s really hard to see it on these pics. So much camo.

 

All the pocket flaps are held down with Velcro instead of the buttons that the shorts pattern used. Speed. This had to be done.

The pockets on the top were not so easy. The flaps are the same design as for the leg pockets, but I didn’t use a pattern for the pocket itself, just copied the pocket from his existing RTW police costume. This does not have the long side strip, I just made it a box by sewing the corners. They’re not as neat, and it turned out to be harder to sew to the suit.

All in all this jumpsuit was a pretty good pattern to use as the base. I can see this one being used for other types of costumes.

So after a long weekend last month sewing it all together, I’ve made one boy really happy! And another project off my table. Win for everyone.

Burda Jacket 02-2011-109 – Finished UFO

How long does it take some UFOs to finally get off the shelf and out in the street?

Well, this one took just 3 1/2 years!

I started this jacket in Sherry’s RTW Tailoring sewalong back in April 2011. That’s right! I got everything sewed up except the buttons, front buttonholes and the hem (and blogged it here); I just didn’t know how to handle the hem.

Then last month I decided to just do the bagged hem anyway (using Sherry’s sewalong posts), but stop at the slits and do them by hand. It actually worked out. The slits are not the neatest on the inside, but nobody will notice. And it’s good enough to wear, which is all I care about!

   

These buttons seem fairly delicate for the denim, but I like the look (despite them being slightly difficult to handle.) The front buttonholes are also corded to counteract the stretch denim.

I’m so happy to have this jacket finished!!

Coming soon, more on this year’s finished sewing projects.

Burda Style 02-2013-127 Top with Raglan Sleeves

As soon as I saw this top I knew I had to try it. Those ruched raglan sleeves seem to draw the eye upward and widen the shoulders. And after seeing some others appearing in the blogosphere it clinched it.

I decided to leave the hem alone, the fabric just rolls like crazy.

We had a really nice day last week and finally I didn’t have to wear winter boots! I love these brown boots, and they’re great for the shoulder seasons, they seem to go with many things too. Like grey! I love this combination. (Next time I’ll smile a bit!!)

 

And instead of the standard binding for the neck, I sewed one long edge to the inside first and then folded it over the front and topstitched without turning under, so the raw edge would roll over the stitching. I really like it! The only thing is that the binding is a bit too short and pulls the neckline. But oh well! Next time.

So fabric, I used another piece of fabric from stash, one of two pieces – different colours, same type - bought at the same time with the intention of making the same top. (This is also how I buy RTW, in multiples.) It’s a cotton/spandex and handles very nicely. I really like this grey colour, it’s becoming one of my basics, and I like how it goes with other basic colours.

As to the pattern, I made quite a few alterations. Even though I went with a size 38 for the upper chest/shoulder area it was really loose on my muslin (yes, I did a muslin!) and even when I tried it on too. This is an old T-shirt, it has no spandex so not a lot of stretch.

Oh right, I’ve decided to name my dress form Annie! It came to me in a flash, maybe a bit lame, you know,… I’m Steph and …she’s Annie…

Anyway, there was a lot of fabric in the shoulder area (on me and my dress form) and  started by pinning out across the front, a typical forward neck tilt alteration for me. But I see from the photos (I realize only *now* how this is useful!) that I removed this, and then tried a few different things (I LOVE having a dress form!) and ended up doing a bit of a full bust adjustment. NEVER in my life have I done this before, I never thought I needed it. But it seemed to help reduce the pulling. I have to mention, someone commented to this effect last year on my Sorbetto tops.

   

I slashed the upper back and raised it, also a standard alteration for my forward tilting neck (photo at left). Then I tried to minimize the sway back (right photo), but this didn’t translate well on the finished garment! Different fabrics sure behave differently! The sleeves got a big fisheye dart taken out too, but in hindsight this might not have been a good move because it changed the raglan seam from a straight line to a curve.

The altered pattern pieces look like this (back, sleeve, front).

After looking at the photos again, I might just nip in the waist a tiny bit. Overall though, I really like this top. And I’ll make another one soon too! Need more tops.

Next time I’ll reveal the Maria Denmark Day to Night top I made from the leftover red fabric of the Pavlova. This was such a nice quick make! And soon, soon the Beignet skirt…it needs a belt, and I have to make one.

Happy Easter everybody!

Burda 09-2010-121 Top – Revisited

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So Google Reader will be no more in 3 months  :(   I am attempting to “claim” my blog at Bloglovin, and as of yet I have NO idea what that means, but it seems important. If anyone knows what this is all about please leave a comment.

And before I go on, thanks for the comments on the buttons for my beignet skirt in the last post. There was a pretty unanimous vote for the swirly ones. After trekking to two Fabricland stores I found enough and some spare. Hopefully I’ll be able to show you this skirt before the end of the week!

Well, back to the main story. Ever since my first post on the Burda top, there has been a steady flow of readers to it from 2 bloggers (that I can see from googling) as they have mentioned it in their post and provided links. I have to say a huge thank you to them for believing that what I wrote made sense! Anyway, even when I wrote the post, I felt that the photos of how I sewed the neck were too small. Last year I started to add the text to the images, and finally republished the post.

Bigger pictures with text and arrows pointing to key things are so much better! I hope these still make sense to future visitors.

Next post I’ll show you the new Burda top I just finished, and one that’s making the rounds. (I needed a quick fix from the beignet!)

Burda Style Tunic 01-2013-125

This has to be a record for me. I actually made this top in January, the same month in which this issue was published! I’m just a little behind blogging about it.

This top is featured in the magazine in a sequin fabric. Mine is a velour! Definitely not the same, but I liked the simple shape and have been looking for an easy pattern to use for velour. Ideally I want a standard sweatshirt pattern, like this one from That’s Not My Age. I’ve got a piece of luscious, velvety velour, and in a similar colour too (it’s way nicer than the fabric I used on this tunic).

The velour used for this version is ok, but the nap is a bit flatter, so it’s more of a wearable muslin. I made my usual adjustments on the paper pattern pieces, but there are still some things that need tweaking, mainly the shoulder slope/armscye depth. The photo at left is how it sits normally, and the right one shows how it sits when I lift my shoulders a bit – some of the pull lines disappear and it looks a bit smoother.

 

When I look at these photos I really notice how sloped my shoulders are. I already sloped the shoulders a bit and dropped the armscye, but it looks like a bit more is needed. Here are the side shots with my shoulders normal (left) and up (right).

 

One of my usual alterations is to widen the sleeve at the bicep by 1 inch, which ends up dropping the sleeve cap height. I’m not sure if height can be added back without lengthening the sleeve’s top edge. Do those sleeves look alright? Those wrinkles are always there pointing up to the sleeve cap, and it niggles me a bit!

I think I need to do something with the front though, it’s got the same thing happening as on my last Sorbetto, where the front hem sticks out. Someone commented on that post that I may need to do a slight FBA. I wondered about pulling in a bit of fabric under the bust dart (increasing it) which would essentially rotate the bottom front section and pull the hem back in. Anybody else have any idea?

This is the back shot, which I’m not keen on.  At all! My butt is acting like a shelf! I’m not sure how a swayback adjustment could make this look much better, as the fabric is hefty, and the top is hip length after all. This style just might be one of those I should stay away from, as NOONE here at home has even commented on it.Does that say it, or what?!

The line drawing looks nice, slimming!

I guess I’ll just keep looking for a pattern more in the vain of a sweatshirt that has a bottom band and sits above the high hip. OR, get my dummy/twin finished and drape one. And that’s coming on slowly, but some progress has been made! More on that front soon.

Burda Skirt 10-2011-119

Well it’s finally done, and I’m quite pleased with it. When I saw Mary Nanna’s version (both of them) I had to make one, but hers are absolutely marvellous. My mystery fabric (from Value Village!) is no where as lovely as silk dupioni, but after the final pressing I think it might actually have some natural fibre in it as it was a dream to press with steam! This started out as another wearable muslin, but it’s a keeper. Even my mum commented on it, and that’s praise indeed! (Actually, I did make a real muslin to check the fit before cutting my cheapo *interesting* fabric.)

 

I was worried that the pockets would be too much for me, but they’re not too bad.

Here’s the list of alterations:

1. Shortened the skirt by about 2 1/2 inches.
2. Chopped 1 inch off the bottom of the front pockets; the proportions just weren’t right with the skirt’s shorter length.
3. Added a 2nd dart to the back pieces (1st pic below).
4. Made a swayback alteration: dropped the waist by 1/2 inch at CB, tapering to 0 at the side seams. I might tweak the shaping of the waist band there to smooth out the curve a bit more.
5. The zip is moved from the side seam to the back. I’m doing this now on all skirts so I can ensure a good fit and make any future sizing adjustments if needed.
6. I changed the construction order, and attached the facings to the front and back panels separately, before sewing the side seams. Again, this is so I can make future alterations if needed.
7. It’s lined (a nice bonus), and the lining is hand stitched to the zip.
8. CB seam is topstitched like the CF seam (2nd pic).
9. The side seams were taken in by about 1/2 inch at the bottom and tapered to the hips.

 

Now, here’s something I never realized before: the lining *should* be about 1 inch shorter than the skirt fabric, and here’s why!

 

Yup, there’s the lining peaking out. Aaarrrrrgh! But it is the NEATEST hem I’ve ever done on lining, and it’s all thanks to this Industry Insider video (Hem Shears with Ease) I watched on Threads insider (their new subscription service). Just need to do it again, no big deal!

And now I think I’ll go make another one! There’s some navy ramie (linen-like) that’s been lingering in my stash for about a year. I might try to make the pockets internal though, but I’ll wait and see, and maybe bring the sides in a bit more to less of an A-line. It’s getting to be a lot of fun now, making modifications to patterns!

Burda Jacket 02-2011-109 – UFO!

Last year, I began participating in Sherry’s RTW Tailoring Sewalong, making this fitted jacket in denim as a first go. The line drawing (I didn’t add the ribbon edging on my version):

Just to recap, here is jacket muslin #1:

 

It was way too tight! For a jacket, that is. So, muslin #2 (poor back shot, but best I could manage):

   

This felt better, I could live with this. So, fabric cut and got as far as inserting the lining, and doing sleeve vent buttonholes.

 

I stopped when I couldn’t decide how to finish the hem! Bagged hem? This would be great, simple, if the hem didn’t have the back slits…I think. Or, can I bag a hem with back slits? I can’t get my head around it, so it just occurred to me (only 7 months later!) that I should just suck it up and hand sew the hem! Any ideas? I’d LOVE to hear some other ideas!

Anyway, the plan was to make a black version in a light weight suiting fabric from my stash, fibres unknown, and a matching skirt - the first pieces in my core wardrobe, à la Fashion for Dummies. But now I’m not sure I want to tackle this pattern again. Once might be just enough!

I’m determined to finish this damn jacket for spring though…only a year late!

Burda Skirt 12-2010-124

Update (Jan 27): added some detailed pics of the second skirt.

This is a great skirt! It’s quick to sew up. I did make a muslin, and I’m glad I did, as there were several fitting issues: hip line, front horizontal darts, sway back, etc.

Here are the line drawings for the long and short versions from the magazine (I find these are still at the German site under “Archiv” – archives.)

 

The long version was designed for a felted fabric, and the front darts are on the outside; I sewed them on the inside as in the short skirt version.

The first skirt I made was more or less a wearable muslin (after the initial real muslin). On a quick side note, I just read about making wearable muslins in the preview of Sarah Veblen’s book, The Complete Photo Guide to Perfect Fitting, which is high on my priority list now. She recommends doing this for everyday clothes, just to see how they actually feel while moving around. So, for this skirt I used a very stretchy, lightweight grey denim from my stash – another Fabricland remnant. And even after sewing it up I had to take in the waist/side seams a lot; not sure why, perhaps it’s the stretchy fabric?

 

Unfortunately I didn’t line it, but I’ll probably add one soon. It’s not a bad skirt, just not the best fabric.

The second skirt was modified by rotating the front darts to the top, and slitting the front through the new darts to create three separate panels. I also topstitched the two front seams mainly to keep it flat, and flared the bottom by about 5 cm or so on all seams. Here’s the modified line drawing:

and here’s the skirt, made from a nice medium weight rayon/nylon/spandex knit. It’s got great drape. (OK, ignore my lovely socks! My Oma actually knit them and I’m very fond of ‘em!)

 

This time I lined the skirt with a knit lining, I think the bolt end said “Interknit Lining”, that I found at Fabricland for $10/m. It’s like a medium weight slippery knit, and it feels great!

I didn’t follow the Burda directions exactly, instead I followed the directions from an article in the November 2011 issue of Threads (No. 157), Easy-To-Alter Waistline, page 62, in case I need to adjust the waist/hips later on (I keep hoping to lose the baby gain, but I guess it’s an uphill battle.) I also followed Sherry’s tutorials on inserting an invisible zip and then facing it; it’s the 2nd time I used them and they’re so easy to follow. Since I also lined the skirt, I just sewed the lining to the zip almost all the way down; it looks nicely finished off.

 

The flared hem had to be hand sewn, and I used a lock-stitch that I found in How to Use, Adapt, and Design Sewing Patterns.

 

This was also the first time that I really altered a pattern for a very different look, and now I’ve done it I feel I could make this into a TNT skirt pattern. I’ve been wanting to do this ever since I started reading Carolyn’s blog, she uses her TNT patterns a lot and makes fabulous outfits. I am in awe, truly. Thank you Carolyn, for your inspiration.

More posts coming up, I’m hoping to catch up on about 7 months of sewing!