Emergency Dress

Pattern: Burdastyle 05-2011, #107
Size: modified 34
Fabric: navy organic cotton jersey from fabric.com

I needed a dress to wear to a wedding this weekend. i knew that i wanted to go with a knit dress and i had 2 yards of organic cotton jersey in the stash. i searched through my patterns but i wasn't excited about anything. then i found this pattern online and thought it had potential. I know that the details are hard to see, but the line drawing gives a better idea of what the design looks like.


i added 1/4" seam allowances except for the center front gathered seam, which was 5/8". i shortened the dress by 2.5 inches. the back ended up shorter than the front so i'm not sure if i had a mishap when i altered the pattern or if my butt just sticks out too much. i have no idea how to fix that particular problem either. i assume you add length to the back? i altered both front and back to remove a lot of the curve from the waist. the pattern curvature is pretty dramatic and i don't have that kind of shape. i added twill tape to stabilize the shoulder seams but didn't use anything on the neckline and armholes. the directions are decent for burda. one thing i hated--the printable pattern pieces don't have all the info directly on the pattern (so no issue number, etc). i had to add all that myself. also the printed directions don't list the sizing anywhere. i cut out the smallest size because i thought it was a 36 but it turns out to be a 34. no wonder it's so tight. i was worried that the dress wouldn't fit so i safety pinned the side seams together and tried it on first. it ended up fitting like a glove but there's not much extra breathing room in there. i used a twin needle on the hem for the very first time and i really like the results.


my favorite part of the dress is the v-back and twisted straps. i probably won't ever make this dress again but perhaps one day i could see myself making the top version. the instructions aren't included for converting it to a top but i could probably figure it out.