Masterpiece Seamed Dress Burdastyle 09/2014 #122

On first glance I had passed this pattern by. I think it was the styling of it in the magazine.

Then I saw this version by dawn at Two on, two off. I liked her adaptation of creating the dress without the godet, and as I only had 1.5m of fabric I decided that this would be the dress to make.

For Christmas my husband had bought me some bright pink soft cotton baby cord. 3m of it and at 150cm wide, that's a good amount. I had used 1.5m to make a tunic dress back in January that is still waiting to be blogged. the rest was destined for this dress.

I did not make a muslin, but measured the pattern carefully at the wait and hips. I cut my usual size 38 for the bust and waist and graded to 40 at the hip. I extended the centre front to avoid having to cut the godet.

As the dress has lots of curved seams around the bust area I wanted to make sure that the fit was good, so after sewing the fronts together and the shoulders. I basted the side seams and tried on. I ended up pinching out about an inch at the shoulders, tapering to the arm edge. The side seams were fine in the bodice area, but the skirt was far to big and I ended up taking quite a bit in at the hip. I could have got away with the size 38 for the whole dress.

The fabric is quite thick so I didn't bother with a lining and faced the armholes and neckline with bias strips in a matching cotton. In retrospect a self fabric neck facing would have been better, as it would have given a flatter finish, and I think I might reshape the neckline a bit too. I can highly recommend this dress. it takes a bit of skill, but it's very flattering and forgiving.