I feel smokin’ hot in this BurdaStyle dress! Good thing, since it took me two years to make it. 🙂
I’ll tell you all about it below, but first, I have a request for you. Helena and I are preparing episode 5 of the Clothes Making Mavens podcast, and we want to include you in it! What was your proudest moment in sewing? Maybe you made a complicated dress for your prom? Or maybe you finally mastered a fly zipper? Maybe, like me, it was the first garment you sewed all by yourself that you were actually able to wear out in public. Now, if I could only find that picture of me wearing that skin-tight, crushed-velvet, bell-sleeved and flare-legged jumpsuit back in the early 90s. I hear 90s style is in again…but maybe we can just leave crushed velvet lying in peace, yeah?
Please leave a comment below about your proudest sewing moment, or — even better — leave us a voice mail by calling 401-64MAVEN or recording a message via your computer’s built-in microphone at speakpipe.com/ClothesMakingMavens. We’ll include your stories in our next podcast!
This is BurdaStyle’s Twisted Cap-Sleeve Dress (06/2014 #102B). It features a neat design element whereby the front and back pieces are cut off-centre, so when you put the dress on you have to twist the bottom to put the side seams where they should be…this results in a subtle diagonal twist around the midriff which I totally love.
I cut and sewed most of this two years ago, and got frustrated with a too-loose, wavy neckline, so it sat in the basement cupboard with other UFOs since then. Lots of unpicking and resewing later, I’ve got a neckline that isn’t quite perfect but a lot better than it was.
I’m actually wearing the dress backwards. Wide, plunging necklines aren’t all that flattering on me but I do love a plunging back! Since there are no bust darts on this design, it’s possible to wear it either way.
One of the issues I had with this dress was the facing in the bodice. It’s a full facing, front and back, which ends just above the waistline, like a crop top on the inside. If you look carefully in the following photo you can see the bottom of the facing causing a wonk on the left side. I have since made the facing a little narrower near the bottom edge, but that didn’t solve the problem. The jersey fabric rolls a bit at the bottom edge — despite me finishing it with the serger and pressing the shit out of it every time I wear it. What to do? I don’t want to make a narrow hem as this may be just as visible on the outside as the roll. Any advice? I think if I made this dress again I wouldn’t do the facing and would just turn in the edge around the neckline or do a neckband.
I wore it out to a nightclub and my friend found this pic they posted on Facebook later that week…which turned out to be one of the tamer photos taken in the club that night. In a stroke of good timing, we called it a night just as others were starting to get their twerk on. There are some things better left unseen. 😉
Thanks for stopping by for a read. Don’t forget to comment about your proudest sewing moment, k? 🙂
Frivolous At Last 
I think my proudest moment has to be when my daughter ecstatically exclaimed “the told me I was the best Hungary at the con!” this summer. She cosplayed Hungary from Hetalia. And I made the pattern. 😎
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Ah-mazing! That is truly a moment to be proud of. Way to go!
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And you know, it’s not that it was haute couture, but it was properly made. There are a lot of fab cosplayers out there, but there are also a few who have rather shoddy standards. I feel like an old snarky thing saying it, but there’s a shocking lack of sewing/crafting knowledge around.
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Hello! The good thing about sewing is that you never EVER stop learning. That is amazing and I love it, since I am totally adicted to learning. I wa proud when I started to make my own patterns, when I learnt to knit a couple of years ago (and stick to it) or most recently, that I am learning to drape. Just now I am finishing my first drape project and it is wonderfult. But maybe the proudest moment is when I learnt how to sew leather and made my first leather jacket. I couldn’t stop myself from telling everyone and make them admire the jacket, hahaha! And I am planing a “complet” for next season, so beware!
http://mertxeshomesewing.blogspot.com.es/2015/12/my-first-ever-leather-jacket-la-meva.html
You look gorgeous in that red dress, Lori!
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Oh my goodness, you look proud as a peacock in that leather jacket and so you should! A leather jacket!!! It looks amazing. That is definitely an accomplishment. Thanks for sharing. 😀
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My proudest moment was the first pair of pants that I made that actually fit me. As someone with unconventional measurements (apparently it’s not normal to have thighs almost the same size as you waist, who knew?), having a pair of pants that fit everywhere instead of alright in some places and not at all in other paces was life-changing. I’m almost done my second pair and I don’t know if I’m ever going to be able to buy pants again.
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Those pants look fantastic on you, Amanda! I haven’t yet mastered pants-fitting yet (it remains a mysterious dark art to me at this point), but I hope one day to achieve that, too. Congratulations! Thanks for sharing your proud moment. 😀
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Well let’s clear this up right now: you don’t just feel smokin’ hot in that dress, you ARE smokin’ hot in that dress! (Is that weird to say?) You wear that shade of red so well (jealous!!!!) and I think it was a great idea to just wear it backwards. I basically love everything about this dress except that I don’t have one of my own. 😉
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Lol! Thanks, Mads! 😀 I normally don’t gravitate to red, but this one is a rich shade of slightly pinky-red, and love-love-love it. Let me know if you decide to sew one of these up…it’s a fast make (well, if you don’t let it sit in your UFO pile for 2 years, that is).
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Wow that is gorgeous – it definitely checks the VA-VOOM box! I love everything about this dress, and I think low back necklines are sexier than low front necklines, so reversing it was a good call. And a big kudos to you for returning to the project – I’ve got a coat I need to get back to this fall. The tinker-er in me wonders if sewing clear or regular 3/8″ (or wider) elastic to the bottom edge of the facing would help it hug your body and stop it from rolling up – kinda like a long-line shelf bra.
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Ooh, that’s a great idea! I will try that. Thanks very much for the tip. Hope you conquer the coat. 🙂
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About the facing, what if you shortened it so it stops at the under bust/midriff? The fabric rolling might be less visible there. Great dress though, you look fantastic.
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An excellent idea! I think if I do that and try adding some elastic around the bottom as Poldapop suggested, this could be perfect. Thanks for the idea!
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Damn girl! You butt looks amazing in that dress, as does the rest of you!
Proudest sewing moment is hard, but I think nailing the fit of the first pair of pants I worked really hard at fitting specifically to my figure https://spareroomstyle.wordpress.com/2016/02/16/mint-green-dream/
The other would be the car coat I made for my (then) boyfriend (now husband) which was from a beautiful Italian wool tweed, featured my first ever set of welt pockets, every pattern piece made to measure for his long skinny bod – this was before I was confidently fitting and altering patterns at will – and a double fastening up the front using buttons and a zip. It was lined in brush cotton so it was warm and cosy on, and my sister made me a custom care label with her quilting machine that said Happy Birthday Alex. Love Nom. He loves it, and it gets LOTS of comments when he wears it.
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Thanks for your story, Naomi! I’ll be including it in the next episode of the podcast. 🙂
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ooh love the red dress.. 🙂 I hear you on the scooped front. The backward look is fabulous!
Proudest moment in sewing…..
There is a few. But If I can think of the first one for me it wasn’t even the fact of wearing something out that I made but it was more the fact that I made it. It was my first button down shirt. I was able to accomplished something I always wanted to try. Suddenly Fabric became garment and I had a part in it. In that moment I was very proud of the potential that was unleashed.
🙂
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So true, Uta! I’ll be putting your story in the next podcast episode. Thanks for commenting.
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I’ve been sewing for a gazillion years, since I was a child, although I had a long hiatus during most of my adult working years and resumed a few years back. I don’t remember any one proud moment, but I can tell you what gives me the greatest pride and joy with each garment I make. This feeling appears most often with dresses, since fit is the most difficult with dresses. Even though I’ve been sewing for years, I cannot always gauge how a dress will fit and I won’t know the final fit until the shoulders, sides, and back zipper are done. The BEST feeling in the world is when I zip up that dress, and it FITS! Actually, sometimes it’s not perfect at the first try, but I know that it is an easy adjustment and it will fit — that’s almost the best feeling.
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