Burda 8280 - photos at last

Yes, it took forever and a day, but I finally got hubbie to snap some shots of the pile-up of un-photographed garments. Here are two of the short versions of Burda 8280 (officially my favorite skirt pattern of the moment, so nice to have found a "TNT"), both Amy Butler fabrics. I've worn these both a bunch of times, so comfy (very important) and pretty (can't go wrong with Amy B.) and (glorious additional benefit) flattering to a middle-aged figure. The "mod" one has a bias-tape finished waist, which I prefer to the facing the pattern calls for.


I also converted the pattern's single darts (one on each of four skirt sections) to smaller double darts, a bit more work, but a better fit for my shape. Plus, confession time: I no longer mark, measure, or pin skirt darts, just eyeball 'em and hope for the best. Slapdashery in this area has turned darts from a groan-inducing dreaded chore to a breeze. Probably not the best way to do them on every garment, but at the top of a skirt like this, works just fine for me.


Here's the long one, from Kaffe Fassett fabric. I used purchased bias tape for the hem finish, on a whim, but love how it turned out.



I've got another short version in the UFO pile... that's the first one I cut, where the subtle tulip shaping on the original pattern gets into trouble with the (can I call it "subtle"?) saddle-bagging on my outer thighs. I got as far as restitching with a narrower side seam in that area, but haven't done any ripping out. Partly due to pure laziness, and partly because I don't have a matching zip for that fabric yet. I'll get back to it eventually. And I have a red KF print that for some reason I bought 2 yards of; may do another short one out of that, which will leave plenty left over for the quilting scraps bin.

Skirt Week!

I made four skirts last week! Gosh, I feel productive and clever.

Well, four and a half, but I'm not counting the one that's in the UFO pile. Three of those four are Burda 8280, two short ones and long one. I also made an above-the-knee blue twill with lime green rickrack in the panel seams... self-drafted. The trimmed seams was an impromptu decision, but turned out wonderfully.

Am eager to show them all off, but there is not one single decent place inside this house to take an indoor photo except one corner of the front hall and then only on a bright day. I'm waiting for a break from gloomy, rainy weather (we get a lot of that in Hilo). The few times the sun has come out, hubbie hasn't been around to take snaps. Tried to take some myself but the only full-length mirror is the closet doors in the bedroom, and the large picture window on the opposite wall means it just doesn't work. Which explains why I so often post snaps of my creations on a hanger rather than on me.

I did wear the Amy Butler "mod" print skirt one afternoon... only to WalMart, a less than exciting debut, but it's as comfortable to wear as I'd hoped, and is sure to become a much-worn favorite. One of these days the sun will come out and I'll corral DH to snap some pics as I model new creations.

Until then I'm taking a break from sewing. I'm off to the Left Coast Crime writer's conference (held right here on the Big Island this year, hurray!) in Waikoloa next weekend, and have some prep to do for that (now that I've cranked out a few new things to wear). Promise I'll post some pics when I've got 'em. And I'm gonna start posting to Pattern Review as well when I have some decent photos.

When I get back from the conference I've got some UFOs to finish up, and some Kaffe Fasset fabric to get creative with. There's probably at least one more Burda skirt in the stash, and I've been eyeing the Amy Butler "Anna" Tunic pattern in the dress length. This whole "sew some clothes" thing was sparked by the realization, over a year ago, that my favorite tank dresses for around-the-house wear on hot summer days were wearing out and I had nothing to replace them. Here we are on the verge of warmer weather again, and I've made a lot of things but not the garments I still need the most. That's gonna be the project goal for post-conference spring sewing.

And then I'll have to clean up the sewing room, which doubles as our guest room. My parents are arriving for a visit on April 2, so I've gotta clear the mess out of the way and set it up nice and pretty for them. The more fabric I use up this month, the less I have to put away...

Burda 8280 - skirt #3

More gloomy-day photos, will update when I've hemmed this, wear it, and get DH to snap a pic on a sunny day. Here the hem is still pinned. Thread I used for seams is just a smidge too dark for hemming, am leaving this unfinished until I can get to the store for a better color match.

I didn't have enough fabric for much wiggle-room with the motifs. This is the front, where the pattern goes across the skirt as it does the yardage.

And the back, where I had to do a mirror-image. I would have liked to have done both sides the same, but when you pull from your stash you gotta work with what you've got. There's even a teeny bit of sun damage on this one, here and there, but I'm probably the only one who will notice it.

Best thing... I discovered that I have a sleeveless linen top that is exactly the same shade of blue! Which makes an outfit! Yippee. Or it will be, when I get the right color thread and stitch that hem up.

I made a faced waist on this one, BTW, but am not thrilled with it. A cleaner look, if you want that, but if I ever lose enough weight to be willing to reveal the waists of my skirts this will need to be completely recut to fit, so for me it's a non-issue.

This looks better on than on the hanger ... look forward to having a better photo to show off.

Burda 8280 - skirt #2

I tried this pattern again over the weekend, adding just a bit more room where I needed it. This is an Amy Butler "Daisy Chain" fabric. As soon as this fabric line came out I knew I wanted to wear something made from this, and ordered 2 yds of it. I thought it was going to be a dress (Butterick 5179) but ended up just using it for the border of that one, which left enough of a piece to make this skirt from, too.

I think this will be my new favorite skirt. I will confess I haven't worn it yet. Just finished hemming by hand last night, but today is cool and gloomy (68 feels downright cold when you live in Hawaii!) so I'm gonna wait for a warmer day. Wish I had a better pic, too, but that gloom makes for crappy photos, and Hubbie isn't around to take one of me wearing it. It has a bit more flare than shows up here. Will update when I've got a better one.

Anyway, this fits well, and is a breeze to sew, especially when you don't do a fussy job with matching the print on the seams, as I've done in other versions (Nigella twill coming up!). I made a bound waist, rather than the facing the pattern calls for, and used two smaller darts where the pattern has single more generous ones. Big triumph: my first invisible zipper in the center back seam! Practiced on scrap first, and only sewed one side of the zip in backwards once, so fairly smooth going. I'd show you a photo, but hey, it's invisible, so you'll just have to take my word for it that it's there.

So looking forward to wearing this... hope the sun comes out soon.

Burda 8280, round one

Another wearable muslin, in process (main seams done, that's it). This is a gorgeous peach French provincial cotton I got on sale at Pierre Deux in Manhattan many, many, many years ago. Flash washed out the color; I've tweaked it almost right. The fabric was going to back a large quilt, but that never happened. I came across it not long ago and thought, "wow, would that be wasted on a quilt back."

I have high hopes for this pattern. American patterns have such a ridiculous amount of ease built in, and are so much too short for me (I'm only 5'8" but that seems to be at about 4 inches taller than whatever "standard" height they design for) that I haven't had much luck finding any that truly work for me, even with adjustments.

So far this is my best bet for a future "TNT" (tried and true") skirt pattern. Burda stated somewhere they design for 5'6" so we're starting out a bit closer in the height department. If I were as slim as their models I'd be all set.

I cut this out yesterday (short length) and stitched up the seams for a test fit this morning. Would have been super fast and easy if I hadn't fussed so much over cutting and pinning and stitching to get the center front and back seams to match for that perfectly symmetrical effect.

Photo above has just the main seams done, no darts yet. I need darts, being a curvy gal, but decided to try pin-fitting them this time. Pattern has one generous dart on each side front and back, but -- inspired by the most flattering/best-fitting skirt in my closet -- I've decided to try two smaller darts each side. That's eight darts to sew, rather than four, and sewing darts is not one of my fave tasks, so fingers crossed it's worth the effort, too.

I also plan to put a lapped zipper in the left side seam, rather than a center back zip. I'll leave that for when I've mastered invisible zippers. I haven't even done one yet, and am not sure I have an invisible zip presser foot for my new machine...

In the meantime, I've encountered a problem. This pattern has a tulip shape, nipping in just a teeny bit below the hips, before flaring out again. It's a subtle shift from a straight seamline, but happens to narrow in right at the spot where I flare out a little. It's not like I have a horrible saddlebag problem, but there's a bit more to my outer thigh than this shape accommodates.

Oh well. That's what a muslin is for, right? I'm gonna rip out the top half of the side seams and eek a little extra there. Could do the center front/back seams, too, if this were a different fabric, but no way am I gonna mess up my perfect match job:

It's only a little bit snug through the thighs, so worst case scenario I can stash this in the closet while I exercise a bit more and eat a bit less for a while. I probably only have to shed 3-5 lbs to take care of the fit problem. (Hah, like that's gonna happen in a hurry! I can dream, though, right?)

After trying this on and discovering the thigh-fit issue, I changed to go do some errands and realized that my every-day all-purpose white chino skirt fits perfectly just where the Burda encounters problems. Aha! I can do a flat measure of the chino skirt and use that to get the Burda to fit.

That's the plan, anyway. If I conquer fit issues, I think I will love this skirt. And if I love it, I'm gonna make a bunch of 'em. Yeah, I know this pattern's been around for years, but STYLE is all about knowing what looks good on you and sticking with it. Fads are just fashion (not the same thing!) and don't interest me much at all.

Am I crazy to think this skirt might finally answer the question of what to do with another length of stash fabric? Specifically, this Amy Butler Nigella twill, an impulse addition to an online buy over a year ago...

I was thinking of doing a plain old pencil style with it, but I think it will really shine with that extra touch of shaping.

This print will be an even bigger seam-matching challenge, and frankly the design is so big I don't know if I have enough yardage to match it. But if I do, it could be truly great.