The Gold Dress

And here's the dress I sewed for Gaby's graduation - sheath dress out of intricate jacquard fabric, integrating black cotton, golden color threads and black velvety patterns. Taking pictures of it under the bright sun is a bit tricky, as it is quite chameleonic in nature and changes its outlook, depending on the angle of the sun rays, falling on it.

The pattern is the same sheath dress from the Burda autumn-winter 2015-2016 catalogue in petite size - such a joy to be able to sew without constantly making changes to adjust for the height.

The sewing of the dress went quite smoothly, I took into account all the small issues I had noticed with my first dress out of this pattern. The fact, that the fabric is kind of striped and pretty stiff also made the cutting and the sewing a piece of cake.

Pattern: Burda #6890 dress

Size: 17 Height: 154 - 160 cm

Fabric: cotton jacquard, polyester lining

Time to make: 10 days

My only small issue is with the width of the sleeves - it seams to me they could be a little tighter to fit the overall outlook of the dress. At least this is what i plan for my next make out of this pattern, when the time comes.

I think this will be the last dress for 2024, but can you believe it - I've made eight dresses this year. It seams every year there is a hidden theme in my sewing and this year dresses is definitely the name of the game :)

Sheath Burda Dress

My latest dress, a sheath dress based on a pattern I've had for years and finally tried.

I've had several attempts at sewing sheath dresses and found them very unflattering on me, so I was under the impression that the type of dress just wasn't my thing. However, this pattern completely changed my mind - I love it and i am definitely going to repeat it, with very minor mods again, most probably with sleeves.

The piece of fabric I used for the dress, was a gorgeous purple georgette, a small 80 cm remnant. It was completely insufficient for a dress, I had bought it just because I loved the color and the fabric, with the idea that I should be able to make something out of it, whatever, anything.

And then I printed the dress pattern and began thinking of some fabric to make a test garment. I took out this piece, saw that it was too short and put it back in my stash. But after some deliberation, I decided that I wasn't going to waste my efforts on unwearable tests and would try to make a short dress.

Once I had finished the dress, I found that it was too short for my taste, but luckily I had a piece of fabric left, from which I could cut strips to attach to the front and the two back pieces. I bought some decorative ribbon and covered the seam of attachment with the ribbon, and then added a second ribbon, just for balance. I like it with these ribbons and I think they actually look organic on the dress.

Things I would change next time - I could take just a tiny bit from the neckline at the back, not more than a centimeter from each side. I would also make the dress 2-3 cm longer and would move the front darts 0.5 cm towards the center of the dress. The main fabric is comfortable, but the lining is a bit stiff and probably needs just a bit of additional width - some 2 cm at the hip area wouldn't hurt.

Pattern: Burda #6890 dress

Size: 17 Height: 154 - 160 cm

Fabric: purple georgette, polyester lining

Time to make: 3 weeks