Burda Style 01/2015 #126 -- Vintage Dress

I love BurdaStyle magazine.  I love the tracing, I love the anticipation of waiting for it to arrive, I love the roller-coaster of emotions as I try to follow the instructions.  I love the styles (August 2014--ON TOP of the culotte phenomenon), the photo spreads, and the silly, most likely trip-induced crafty projects often featured.

Oh, and I love this dress.  It's simple enough to have a vintage vibe without being a costume, and I've styled it two different ways and took photos in front of my shower curtain.

I did change the pattern a little bit.  I decided to forgo the inset waistband, and instead lengthened the bodice by two inches.  I also left it unlined, because I like the cheeky look of a short slip underneath a sheer dress.  The dark poly chiffon is just sheer enough to show the slip without leaving me feeling completely exposed.

This first look is more innocent and schoolgirl-ish, with saddle shoes and a ponytail.

Here's the second look:

Am I pulling it off?  That look of decadent Italian voluptuousness?

 Here's a detail of the bodice:

The neckline was finished with a machined baby hem, while the sleeves were hand-rolled.

I cut out a size 44, my usual size in Burda, but instead of removing all the extra fabric from the waist as I usually do, I decided to leave it a bit loose so it could just be a pullover dress.  I had visions of borderline grungey '90s floral dresses--kinda loose with little ties at the back to hold some of the volume in check.  Once I tried it on, though, I realized that that's not really the look for me.  I like to be cinched in tight.  Like, hindering blood flow kind of tight.  It's what gives me such good posture.  So, after making the dress extra loose in the waist and forgoing a zipper, I decided to make a matching belt.

This little puppy is made of black wool twill with four layers of cotton flannel sandwiched inside to give it body and strength.  Then quilted to the edge of the earth.  Have you ever tried to stitch parallel lines in black, on black, in the dim Tungsten glow of a non-efficient antique lamp?  Trying is a charitable way to describe it.  I'm surprisingly happy with the way it all turned out, though.  I like the look of the D-rings and the way I was able to contour the belt.  I had intended for the contour to be a little more pronounced, but the quilting may have stretched the smaller edge a bit.  Not sure.  Still fits.

The center back has an overlap of the diagonal lines of stitching.

And apparently a lot of cat hair.  

Now that I know how easy it is to make belts like this, I think i'm going to make some embellished ones for the summer--pastels with organza flowers and rhinestones.  Just cutesy enough to make a cynical hipster grimace, but not quite vomit.