Thursday, July 21, 2011

Burda 7658, Yellow Eyelet Notched Collar Shirtdress

Burda 7658 Thumbnail

I bought this lovely yellow eyelet fabric from Mood in NYC in 2008, using a gift certificate given to me by a friend as a thank you for sewing lessons. The eyelet was $18/yd--I would never have paid that on my own but it is gorgeous. And because it is gorgeous and expensive, I felt that I had to find the perfect pattern. It has shown up in various sewing plans over the years, but I never found the platonic ideal pattern.

But then last year I was innocently walking down the street and saw a woman in white eyelet shirtdress with cutaway shoulders and a notched collar and realized I had found my pattern. I bought a Vogue pattern (OOP 8383) but it wasn't *quite* what I was looking for. Then I randomly lucked into Burda 7658 for $1 while pawing through a huge table of patterns at G Street Fabric when they discontinued Burda and Simplicity. What luck! It was truly meant to be.

Trim Undercollar The underlining is an embroidered cotton-poly Cynthia Steffe fabric from Paron's Annex, purchased in 2009 for $4/yd. I wasn't keen on its original pale yellow color so I overdyed it with turmeric, which actually worked really well. But it's a thin fabric that would need to be lined and it read more "poly" than "designer" or "cotton." I had a pattern idea for it but wasn't enthused to sew it up any time soon. I assumed I'd underline the eyelet in white. But then, they were sitting next to each other on the fabric shelf and I had an "I wonder...." moment and put them together. LOVE. The yellow underlining works so much better than white for this project. And plus, using up two fabrics in one project? Even better than killing two birds with one stone, particularly since I am a vegetarian.

To save fabric (I ended up with a few scraps of the eyelet, but not even an inch of remaining yardage) and reduce bulk, I cut the undercollar only of the underlining. To get a good turn of cloth I trimmed the side and outer edges just a fraction. The
end result is sharp, and the undercollar does not show unless flipped up.

Armscye Bias Tape I finished the armscyes with bias tape cut of white cotton batiste (which is going to get gross from my sweat--at least the underlining is already yellow!) and hand-stitched the tape to the underlining.

For the back facing, I did the now usual Sunny Gal Studio clean finish facing method of sewing the interfacing right sides together with the facing along the outer edge and then flipping to the inside before fusing. I hand-stitched it down to the underlining to avoid any kind of facing flappery.

Skirt Facing Finish I wanted to have a similar clean finish on the self-facing for the skirt, and because I was underlining I was able to do so. First, I fused interfacing to the underlining's wrong side from the outer edge minus seam allowance to about an inch past the fold line. I zigzagged the long edges of these interfacing strips so that if the glue gives the interfacing won't start peeling off in sheets (yuck!). Next, I placed fashion fabric and underlining, underlining wrong side to fashion fabric right side along the outer vertical edges and serged. (The wrong side to right side thing is because I wanted the right side--the embroidered side--of the underlining to show through the eyelet holes.) Then I opened out the pieces and folded along the outer vertical edges (front opening edges) to enclose the serging and pressed. The serged stitch shows through the eyelet holes, but as this is the self-facing that was folded to the inside and would never be seen, that was totally fine.

It worked out very well. As with the back facing and sleeve bias finish, I hand-stitched the front facing (including skirt self-facing) to the underlining for a very tidy finish.

Yoked Pocket As mentioned, it was a very tight squeeze on the eyelet fabric and I couldn't fit two full pockets into the layout. It's common to use a different fabric for the front pocket, which is folded to the interior, so it was a no-brainer to cut one set of pockets from the underlining fabric. But the pocket is set into a yoke, and at least part of the back pocket is meant to show. I thought about it for a while and then took my inspiration from jeans. I cut the yoke part plus about 1.5" out of my eyelet, which fit into the little spot I had left, and cut a another set of full pockets of the underlining. I stitched the eyelet pocket yoke to the underlining pocket piece and treated them as one when setting in the pocket. Nobody would ever guess my secret!

Fit Fix Confident in my Burda fit--after all, the envelope claims it is "The Pattern that Fits!"--I cut my usual sizes: 34 at the shoulder and bust, 36 at the waist, 38 at the hip. The envelope says the dress is "Fitted" and boy was it ever. This was quite snug, much more so than I would expect a 36 to be even with my fairly bulky fabric layering. I was extremely frustrated by that. I let out the side seams from below the bust to waist, and on the underlap placket I folded the facing outward to give myself an extra quarter of an inch there (click the photo to enlarge). It fits now, with a small amount of ease. But only a small amount of ease, which is not ideal for (1) summer heat or (2) longevity of garment. Boo! Next time I sew from a Burda envelope I will look more closely at sizing.

Goodwill Buttons

I purchased the buttons at a Goodwill trunk show a couple of years ago and LOVED them. I couldn't get a great shot; they are resin-y with embedded white bits near the base, a deep rich color, and lots of shine. I tagged them for this dress as soon as I had my shirtdress epiphany and am so happy with how they look on it! There were seven of them, which worked out just about perfectly. I never follow the button placement guide on patterns, spacing the buttons according to my preferred neckline and their size.

Hem
Because of the bulk of the fabric, I didn't want to do a turned under hem. In hindsight, I could have used hem tape or ribbon for a neater look. For the most part, I sewed the fashion fabric and underlining as one. When sewing the side seams, I left the seam unsewn about 6 inches from the hem so the fashion fabric and underlining would be free of one another. I marked and pressed the hem on both the fashion fabric and underlining. Then I turned under and stitched a small hem on the underlining. Once it was hemmed, I finished the side seams, catching in both fashion fabric and underlining. Finally, I serged the edge of the fashion fabric about 2 inches from the fold and stitched the hem to the underlining by hand, enclosing the underlining's hem. I had shortened the hem about 1.5 inches in cutting, due to my limited fabric, and cut off another 1.5 inches after marking the hem. This is meant to have a long skirt I guess?

Burda 7658 Side

I did not do a perfect job on this. I should have treated the floral cutouts as stripes, but they are not lined up at all and somehow I cut the collar way off grain (doesn't affect how it lays but the floral motif makes it obvious). But it is an adorable dress and I am so happy finally to have sewn this beautiful fabric! It came out just as I had envisioned. I love that it can be worn with brown or white (and I'm sure other colors). It can also be worn without a belt on those crazy hot days such as we are having now (given that it is inappropriate to come to work in a bikini). Although I do not wear much brown, that's how I ended up styling it the first day I wore it because I really liked the touch of safari to the look.

I am trying to make this summer all about fearlessly sewing Too Good to Use. My current project is a beautiful silk impulse buy from Kashi, and I *will* get to the silk jersey I bought with the same gift certificate.

What Too Good to Use fabric are you going to sew up next???

All photos are here and the pattern review is here.

47 comments:

Sheila said...

Beautiful dress and love the use of the embroidered underlining.

Anonymous said...

This dress is very flattering on you. Great color.

ELMO said...

I love the underlining you used, it makes the dress read as a light yellow throughout. I will not be sewing any too good to use for a bit longer maybe in the fall I'll start looking into it.

KID, MD said...

Absolutely fabulous!! That eyelet was too good NOT to use, and so on trend. Love!! Now I need to dig out the silk charmeuse my mother brought me from Dubai 10 years ago. It's been languishing in the too good to use pile...

Mary said...

Gorgeous dress and perfect for a hot summer day. I would make one too if I had any hopes of summer coming to our neck of the woods! Great job!

Anonymous said...

Just stunning! The color is great and the style is just smashing! Great job.

Valerie (not really anonymous, having google-itis)

Sewing Projects said...

I am not sure what belt I like most with it...I am leaning toward the white belt and I absolutely love the big yellow buttons.

Good job girl!

~Living Dailies Sewing Publisher: Joanna

MelissaB said...

That is so cute Trena! Yellow looks so great on you too. Is that pattern in any old BWOF mag? I want to make it too, but I really don't *need* any new patterns.

P.S. I've been watching your sewing, but have been too lazy to comment lately, sorry. I do appreciate your indepth posts and reviews so please keep it up. :-)

Karin said...

Love it! It has a real mid-century retro feel, but isn't at all costume-y. It's also a very flattering shape on you. I don't notice the flowers not matching up at all. I think the pattern is busy enough that everything such blends. Gorgeous.

Beth (SunnyGal Studio) said...

I love that! I so want an eyelet dress and I saw that pattern last year - why didn't I get it?

puu said...

wonderful, summery and cute--it doesn't look too snug at all, it looks fitted and flattering! great use of a special fabric.

liza jane said...

Oh, wow! I love the sunny eyelet. The buttons are perfect. I would love to wear yellow it just doesn't suit me. Looks fabulous on you!

Samina said...

This dress looks so summery & cool. The color's great on you, too.

Digs said...

Ooooh, SUPER-cute!

Adelaide B said...

Using the yellow lining was a great idea, this dress looks great. I finally cut into one piece of my small liberty stash to make a summer blouse. (Not the sacred blue roses my husband gave me, but my second favorite print that I only had a yard of. I'm hoarding the scraps.)

christiane said...

...sieht toll aus,
und die Knöpfe, wie Zitronenbonbons.
Liebe Grüße
Christiane

Meetzorp said...

That turned out really cute. The fabric is beautiful.

But I hear you on the Burda frustration. I won't even allow myself to buy a Burda pattern anymore. I've had nothing but frustration out of them. The proportion is so inconsistent, and even when I measure the pattern, pin-and-try-on, cut a preliminary muslin, and generally do everything the Home Ec way, I still end up having to fool around with it endlessly to get a wearable garment. And don't get me started on the convoluted chaos that is a Burda instruction sheet. They are the WORST!

Eugenia said...

This dress is so very lovely - it looks like a burst of summer sunshine in that gorgeous shade of yellow. The fabric was worth every cent - it is fabulous and the style is perfect for it!

Lily said...

That is wonderful dress. it is completely fit you. I love all your work.

kbenco said...

I am really enjoying this too good to use streak. Your hoarded fabrics are luscious. I love this dress, so fresh and summerish. Your eyelet handling is superb. I have an eyelet dress that gave me fits whilst sewing it,(all that I can see the inside from the outside angst was tricky!) so I empathised through the whole post. I love your "jeans" pocket!

Sunduri Das said...

Adorable! I love the new hair cut.

Meg said...

Really cute, Trena! Looks like a Milly. You look good in yellow.

gwensews said...

You found the perfect pattern to marry that fabric. Great combination. I love yellow and that color looks great on you. It's not an easy color for a lot of people to wear. Nice work.

Anonymous said...

This is one of my favorite dresses that you have made. You look great in it!

Anonymous said...

Oh so stunning! That is such beautiful eyelet. I have two different Milly prints that are calling to me--one yellow rayon knit, and a turquoise and white voile that I meant for PR's designer knockoff of a Tory Burch tunic that I love. I need to get on both of them because come fall they both will be too cool to wear.

Sew-4-Fun said...

Nice dress. The style is very flattering on you. I particularly like the cut away shoulders on the back.

AllisonC said...

OMG I love your dress, the underlining really seems to bring out the colour and the style looks great on you. It looks like the perfect amount of ease to me (at least from a style perspective) and I don't think you need to worry about matching the eyelet flowers at all.

MushyWear said...

I love the look of sleeveless shirt dresses. The yellow eyelet was such a perfect choice for this pattern and it looks lovely on you. You are right about having lots of options for accessories with this one. I have made this dress as well and it is one of my favorites!

kathy said...

I agree with everyone here - what a gorgeous person you are in this lovely eyelet dress.
I liked your pocket solution to making it work.

Rebecca said...

super super cute!

Andrea said...

Oh wow!!! I really like this dress on you. I'm a big fan of the shirt dress although I haven't made one yet.

Elizabeth said...

I'm a sucker for all eyelet fabric! Love this dress, and the color is really cute on you :)

Anonymous said...

What a special fabric, and you picked a great style to make it up in. Cool and sophisticated. Thanks for posting all the construction details. It's always interesting to see how you work round the problems and end up with a beautiful result.

Bonnie O. said...

I love your yellow dress!! You look wonderful.

Little Hunting Creek said...

Beautiful dress! I think I'll make myself some silk drawstring pants from my too good to use hoard

Summer Flies said...

I love a yellow (but alas my sallow skin won't allow it!) and it looks fantastic on you. The fabric makes a simple style allow the fabric to shine through. Very smart.

Becky said...

That eyelet is amazing. I agree that the yellow underlining works much better than white would have. And it is always nice to use up more stash than expected on a project, isn't it? I'm glad that you were able to find a successful use for such a special fabric!

McVal said...

My daughter has always loved eyelet but I never knew how to use it before now! Thanks!!
It looks beautiful!

Clio said...

Perfect dress for this heat! I think that very few sewists would notice any imperfections at all with it - I can't see any!

Mrs. Micawber said...

That yellow underlining really adds depth. The fit looks great - not at all like you had to squeeze out some extra ease! I love the brown belt - it really pops.

Anonymous said...

Absolutely stunning Trena. Love the fabric, the colour, the style. Good choices! You are an inspiration.

Jessb from Vancouver.

Joy said...

Wow, the eyelet is amazing! It looks nice in this crisp style and the yellow underlining was a good choice.

snow said...

Love the fabric and the dress you made out of it!!! :O)

Janice said...

I love the yellow eyelets! I learned to get over my "too good to sew, too easy to hoard" fear by making muslins obsessively.

I personally never go into Mood since I can't afford anything! :) I usually shop at the grungier shops in the garment district.

Noile said...

Your post made me realize how little yellow I see in garments -- but boy, is it a great color on you! Garment sunshine, and your fabulous hair color is the perfect complement.

senaSews said...

Wow, this dress is adorable. Love the eyelet fabric and the color. Beautiful!

Cennetta said...

Trena, I'm weeks behind in my blog reading. And I have certainly missed out on some great outfits made by you. This is the perfect summer dress. Love it.