My Take… Burda Style Dress

I have been eyeing Burda #101, the cap sleeve & tank dress with gathered rectangle skirt.  It’s a basic sun dress, with a basic bodice-block top, but I liked the simple style of it.  Basic patterns like these are easy to manipulate, and add small details to make them really unique.

I made a few small changes to the pattern. First, I found the sizing to be quite off.  I haven’t sewn a lot of burda patterns, but I cut what was to be for a size 37 3/4″ bust, and I was swimming in it.  I probably reduced the whole thing by about 4 inches.  Prior to this, I had found bruda patterns usually fit pretty well.  Maybe I misinterpreted the pattern and cut the wrong size… I am notoriously bad at reading instructions.

Anyway, I made my dress out of a woven stripe that has some serious stretch to it.  Because of that, I was able to omit the zipper completely.  This made me very happy because I hate sewing zippers.  Yep, I’ll be the first to admit, I’ll go out of my way to avoid installing a zip.

I added ribbon ties to the shoulders. I trimmed back the shoulder seam by about 1/2″ on either side, basted and gathered along the raw edge, then stitched my ribbon to it.  

On the back I added a heart cut out, which I bound this time with navy fold over elastic.  Bias binding works just as well.