Burda 6832 - Rust

When the new Autumn 2014 Burdas came out, I had my eye on 6830, but since Jo-Ann's decided to have a sale almost immediately after they were released and that never happens, I grabbed Burda 6832 as well, just because I love unusual collars, princess seams, and fake buttons.

I'm very glad I did, since I've made two versions already during this semester (how I measure all time), using both variations.  The first is made from a rayon/linen blend from (where else?) DenverFabrics.  I didn't love the color when I first saw it as I thought it was going to be quite a bit redder, but it's grown on me and I think it suits my complexion.  That's quite a relief because I have 6 more yards of the stuff  (it was $1.99 and I had big plans)!  There are some drawbacks, which, I suppose, is one of the dangers of using $1.99 fabric.  The main one is that it's bagged at the back already, and the hem now looks sort of puckered or something.  This bugs me because I interfaced the hem and reinforced the CB seam with Hug Snug.

Anyway, I made View B, but with the shorter sleeves of View A.  I don't usually use directions, but found that it was necessary in order to understand just how the collar and its facing went together.  Don't be alarmed, though!  These directions, while not illustrated as fully as a pattern from, say, Simplicity or Vogue, gave me only the mildest of headaches.

These buttons are non-functional.  Don't care.  YOLO.

You can see here that the collar is buckling a little.  I'm not sure how to fix this, because only the facing is interfaced.  You can also see the extreme wrinkling that this fabric is prone to.

See that hem?  GRRR.

The dress itself is comfortable and very pretty.  I did my usual princess seam adjustment, where I just follow the curves of my princess seam block and it all came together.  The back was pretty big, but that was easy to adjust because of the center seam.  For the second version, I just cut the back one size smaller, grading out to the original size in the hips.

I like the sleeves, but I'm not in love with them.  I think they're cuter on the model than they are on me, and they have a habit of bunching up under a sweater, which added to the wrinkling makes me a little crazy, but I'm not going to change them.  They went right into the armscye with very little ease, which is nice.  I also love the high armhole and the shoulder seams which are actually on my shoulders!

The insides are pretty basic, I just pinked all the seams (this stuff is so dense--it does not ravel!) and narrow-zig-zagged the facing.

I definitely think I may make this a third time, just because it fits so well with minimal adjustments, and because its so customizable.  I think a version with LOTR Elvish-style embroidery around the collar would be really beautiful, or a dark version with hand topstitching tracing the seamlines, or colorblocked no, wait, that would be horrible.

I hate colorblocking.

Stay tuned for version 2!