Hello sewosphere, guess who is back? Back from holidays, that is, and with a horrendous case of the blues… Lisbon was lovely, with blue skies and sangria in the sun, and coming back into the middle of Storm Katie did nothing to ease me back into everyday life…
In any case, on the sewing front, I can report some great bargain fabric purchases in Lisbon, and slowly, very slowly getting my sewjo back. I have sewn nothing in March, which is actually a bit worrying for me. In part, it was due to a lot of travelling for work and our holidays in Portugal, but I also acquired two UFOs, which is very unusual for me. I really need a quick and dirty project to get me out of the slump…
But in the meantime, I do have something to show you, a dress I absolutely love and have already worn a dozen times, but somehow didn’t get a chance to photograph yet. It was like a curse, every time I wanted to do it, something came up: bad weather, hangovers and just not being home in the daylight. I even took it with me to Portugal, but it rained on the day I had planned for pics. GRRR! So I just took some boring pics in my living room today, taking advantage of a break in the clouds and rain for some reasonable daylight.
So here goes, my perfect spotted raglan tunic dress…
PATTERN:
It’s the Raglan Tunic Dress from Burda Magazine 10/2014#127A. This is one of my TNT Burda Magazine patterns, which is also available from Burda Style here. I have made it before a while ago (it’s the blue one in this really long post) and was itching to sew it again. I copied out the pattern, as you do, in my usual Burda Style size, 38, and made a few adjustments the first time, so I know that the fit will not need too many tweaks.
FABRIC: I got this spotty textured poly jersey from Marie at A Stitching Odyssey for the Secret Santa at the Sewing Bloggers’ Christmas party last year. I loved it as soon as I opened the parcel and my mind kept wondering what could I turn it into. It was just a meter, though 1.5m wide, so I could try to squeeze a dress if I’m clever. Or find some other fabric to combine it with. And of course, I turned to my usual solution: when I doubt, add faux leather :), from my stash.
ALTERATIONS: A while ago, I ended up with about a million metallic zippers, so I am really looking forward to ways of using as many as them as possible. The pattern asks for a short back zipper, to allow access through the neck hole. Initially I wanted to have a long exposed zipper in the back, but then realised the zippers I had were not long enough. So because I used a stretch fabric, I decided to leave it out entirely and add a neck band instead. But I had already cut it by that point, so unfortunately that meant no pattern matching. But how about those zippers? Well, I added them to the side seams instead, which unfortunately meant I had to leave out the pockets. And lastly, because I only had 1m to play with, I had to shorten the hem a bit, to make sure I fit it all in.
CONSTRUCTION:
This should be a really easy sew, even with the sketchy Burda instructions. And for most part it was. The only slight difficulty were the sleeves, for which I didn’t read the instructions too carefully and had to do a bit of unpicking to sort it out. Also, the zippers were a tad tedious to put in, and in hind sight, probably would have required a bit of a shield, as they tend to be a bit scratchy. I sewed it together with both the overlocker and the regular machine, for the zipper and putting in the yoke, but probably would have been fine just with the machine and a zig-zag stitch.
If I made another one in jersey I might take it in a bit, as it’s just a little bit on the roomy side, but hey ho, it comes in hndy for big dinners :)!
Not that much else to say really, other than I can’t wait to make another one very soon!
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Love the polka dot mixed with faux leather: great combo!
May I ask you, at which temperature do you wash faux leather? I am wondering if my faux leather should be hand washed or machine washed! Thank you and great tights btw!
Author
Thank you so much! I really like adding faux to whatever I can, ha ha.
I wash everything at 30 degrees synthetics programme (my machine is not very sophisticated). I have not had any issues with this particular fabric – I bought yards and yards of it a while ago and used it loads in various combinations. However, lately I seem to be like kryptonite to any faux leather items I had from retail. Last week I was wearing a retail faux leather dress and it completely disintegrated on me. I mean, completely, like layers shedding like burnt skin, incredibly weird and annoying. And I had that happen to me with two bags last year. But touch wood, this one is holding up so far. The only thing I would advise is to be careful with the iron. I do press it, it needs pressing, especially the neck band, but only on the wrong side and with organza. Otherwise it melts like mozzarella :).
I love how you’ve styled this dress. It wouldn’t have occurred to me to sew a contrast with faux leather but it looks fab, especially with those brightly coloured tights!
Author
Thank you, I do love my coloured tights, I have them in pretty much every colour :). Re faux leather, I really put it on anything, especially if I haven’t got enough fabric. I love texture combos like that.
I love the black mixed with the dots. What a fun dress!
Author
Thank you Linda! I wore it loads, very versatile and comfy! I can’t wait to make this pattern again. One on my TNTs.
Very funky, suits you really well. Love the side zipper details.
Author
Thank you! Funny how you get creative when you want to use stuff up! Like stash busting, but with zippers 😀
My stash- busting makes are always a bit hit and miss! But I have been investing in better quality stuff of late, so fingers crossed this could get easier…
What a cool dress, I absolutely love it! Those raglan sleeves in the pleather are so funky. Another great make!
Author
Thanks Sue! Sometimes you really get gems out of those old Burda mags. Do you have them in Aussie?
We do and I have a few but don’t make them as I hate tracing the patterns.
I really like the silhouette of this dress and the raglan sleeves. The polka dots and faux leather are a great combination.
Author
Thank you Caroline! I really got into this habit of adding faux leather to anything, must be getting a bit boring for everyone else, but I love it 😀