Sewing on a Saturday

Today I completed two projects, one that I started last week, and the other that I started and finished this afternoon.

First up, I finished a version of Burda 7775, which I am beginning to fear is now out of print, since I can no longer find it on the Burda webpage or Sewingpatterns.com.

I had some of the magenta stretch sateen left from my venture into vintage sewing, so I decided to make the shirt version to work out any fit issues before embarking on the dress. Plus, I had these little buttons that I wanted to use:


Overall, I am quite happy with the way that it turned out:


The neck is quite wide, so much so that you need to be careful with what bra you wear. In tracing the pattern, I started by tracing a size 20, which fit my bust measurement. Because Burda patterns are drafted for a larger cup size, I did not do an FBA. I did, however, make some minor alterations. Because I have wide hips and a big bottom, I graded out to a size 22 just above the hem. I also graded down to a 16 at the waist at the sides and back. You can see that on my dress form, the shirt almost looks like it has a peplum. Trust me, it doesn't look like that on me! There is just no way to give my dress form my hips and ass.

Because the dress version in the illustration and on the model appears to have a dropped waist, I expected the shirt to be much longer than it is. Either I am long-waisted, or the illustration is inaccurate, but the shirt hits higher on me than it does on the illustration. On the other hand, in my mind this is a good thing, because the dropped-waist was one of the things that I was concerned about, and whether or not it would look good on me. Since it has been revealed that (on me, at least) there is no drop waist, I will forge ahead with the dress.

Here are some detailed photos of the construction:


There are both front and back princess seams. The instructions said to topstitch, but whenever instructed to topstitch in a situation like this, I just do a flat-fell seam. It ends up looking the same as a topstitched seam, but also hides the seam allowances.


Here is the topstitching on the collar. The collar is put together in a way that I have never seen before. Usually when a top has a collar and a lapel like this, the way it is constructed is to make the collar, turn it, and then tuck it into the top of the lapel while it is sewn. Then, when the lapel is turned, the collar is placed correctly. Instead of doing that, they had you sew the upper collar to the upper lapel, snip, and press open the seam. Then, do the same to the lower collar. Then you sew both pieces together and turn. It was a bit fiddly, but looked nice.


Finally, the sleeve band has plenty of room in it. I have chubby arms, and sometimes puff sleeves can be quite tight. But there was plenty of ease in this sleeve for me. I also managed to put the left sleeve in the right armscye, but by the time I saw what I had done, it was set perfectly, nary a crease or tuck in the sleeve cap, so the wrong sleeve got to stay there.

After I finished the top, my husband wandered into my sewing room with one of his shirts in his hand. I assumed that he needed a button put on or a mend, but he said no, he really liked this shirt and wondered if I would be able to make him another. I pulled a few fabrics out of the stash for him to pick from, and started tracing off a size large in Simplicity 4760, a set of men and boy's pants and shirts.


For a simple camp shirt this pattern is fine. However....I looked through every sheet in that pattern envelope and COULD NOT FIND the pattern for the pocket for the man's shirt. The pocket for the boy's is there. But either I am insane, or it is not there. Here is the finished product, in striped linen:


Now you may say, "Michelle! Those shoulders are too wide! And that shirt is too long!" and I would tell you, "Not to worry, he LIKES it that way." The reason for this is my husband is a professional jazz musician. He plays the upright bass:

When choosing shirts for performing, he wants them to be extra wide across the back and shoulders for freedom of movement. He also likes for his shirts to be long when he performs because he spends a lot of time with arms raised, which lifts the hem of his shirt. He doesn't like his muffin top hanging out any more than I do, so the shirts have to be extra-long. While it may look a touch sloppy without the bass in his hands, when he is performing, he is much more comfortable.

Tomorrow, I hope to get some more of the safari dress done. So far, fitting and cutting out are complete.