Little Purple Dress

In the beginning of my sewing career I sewed a lot of party wear (see The Dissertation Party dress and My “Dress” for examples). I realised I didn’t get a lot of use out of them so I sewed more everyday wear over the years. I still enjoy sewing beautiful clothes, it’s more a piece of art, but not very practical. So for this project I was enticed to sew something more dressed up.

The pattern is Burdastyle, from the magazine 04-2010 (I don’t know the number) and it can be dowloaded from the Burdastyle website for free! It’s some tricky sewing involved when assembling the bodice. First you insert the zipper in the bodice backs for about 10 cm. This is because you must do the facings before you can assemble the bodice due to the wrap effect. Once the facings are in, the bodice can be assembled and then attached to the skirt so the zipper can be sewn in all the way.

The dress has a bodice and a skirt. The bodice has insets on either side, both front and back. The seams from the insets meet a pleat in the front and a dart in the back.

In the front there’s a wrap with pleats that go into the inset. It’s a very flattering look and the neckline is perfect.

Project summary:
Pattern: Burdastyle 04-2010-???
Difficulty: 3/5 by maker. I agree, this is not a project for a beginner.
Alterations: None, it fitted right out of the bag.

Fabric: Viscose twill
Notions: Invisible zipper, interfacing, thread.
Price: Fabric 180 SEK (€19.88), zipper 24 SEK (€2.65), interfacing and thread 10 SEK (€1.10)
Total: 214 SEK (€23.64)

Project Summary: I love it! It’s not like anything else I own and I feel so elegant in it. I want to sit in a fancy bar at cocktail hour sipping a drink. Now I just need an occasion to wear it.
My first instinct was to make it in a dark blue satin, I hope I will get an opportunity to do that type of dress, but then I definitely need an occasion for it.

My Pattern review

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