Friends, this challenge totally whooped me. For someone who has never traced a pattern, the BurdaStyle book offers many hurdles. It seemed to get quite a bit worse when I realized I was tracing the coat pattern and not the dress pattern, and worse still when I pressed too hard with my tracing wheel and sliced the paper pattern up something awful. It took me an hour to trace two pieces. I almost cried but then Rob made cookies because he could see I was on the verge of a breakdown.
I knew I wanted to make the dress pattern, and I knew I wanted to make it out of flannel (because it is winter, y'all, and I want something I can wear now).
I eliminated the flounces and the keyhole neckline, created a Peter Pan collar using my vintage Simplicity 5514 (which I got from the New York Meet-Up - yay!), created a bow belt from Tilly's fabulous tutorial, used the pocket pattern from Simplicity 2444, and the sleeve version B from Simplicity 2501. Oh yes, and I added about two inches to the skirt length.
This dress took me about eleven hours.
I think I like it, but since it took me so long and was such a headache to make, I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to...
(Pauses and looks up to see Rob has turned on Pride and Prejudice. TOTAL DISTRACTION.)
As I was saying before I was interrupted by details of Mr. Bingley, I don't know if I'll ever be able to wear this dress without thinking of all the frustration that came from making it.
I like the Peter Pan collar. It was WAY larger but I trimmed it down a bit and quite like the effect. Rob said it was very "French schoolgirl."
Close up of the flannel and the bow belt. The bow belt tutorial is a breeze and I made it and the collar out of the same scrap fabric. I see more of these happening in the future.
I used a weird cotton cloud fabric for the lining. I never had a project in mind to attach it to, so I decided it would work perfectly for this.
The sleeves might be my favorite part. I like that they are super "Anne of Green Gables" puffy.
Friends, I cannot honestly say if I will ever use the BurdaStyle book patterns again. I was so frustrated that the patterns were falling apart the first time I went over them with my tracing wheel, and I don't know if the pattern sheet would last for another dress making adventure. I enjoyed the book for how it offered up ways to restyle patterns, which inspired me to add so many elements to my version. I think in that way it offers excellent guidance, but I was sadly disappointed in the actual patterns (and the paper on which they were printed).
Friends, how do you feel about tracing patterns? Is it enough to drive you away from certain patterns? Let me know in the comments - I would love some tips on tracing if you have some!
This dress took me about eleven hours.
I think I like it, but since it took me so long and was such a headache to make, I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to...
(Pauses and looks up to see Rob has turned on Pride and Prejudice. TOTAL DISTRACTION.)
As I was saying before I was interrupted by details of Mr. Bingley, I don't know if I'll ever be able to wear this dress without thinking of all the frustration that came from making it.
I like the Peter Pan collar. It was WAY larger but I trimmed it down a bit and quite like the effect. Rob said it was very "French schoolgirl."
Close up of the flannel and the bow belt. The bow belt tutorial is a breeze and I made it and the collar out of the same scrap fabric. I see more of these happening in the future.
I used a weird cotton cloud fabric for the lining. I never had a project in mind to attach it to, so I decided it would work perfectly for this.
The sleeves might be my favorite part. I like that they are super "Anne of Green Gables" puffy.
Friends, I cannot honestly say if I will ever use the BurdaStyle book patterns again. I was so frustrated that the patterns were falling apart the first time I went over them with my tracing wheel, and I don't know if the pattern sheet would last for another dress making adventure. I enjoyed the book for how it offered up ways to restyle patterns, which inspired me to add so many elements to my version. I think in that way it offers excellent guidance, but I was sadly disappointed in the actual patterns (and the paper on which they were printed).
Friends, how do you feel about tracing patterns? Is it enough to drive you away from certain patterns? Let me know in the comments - I would love some tips on tracing if you have some!