About Me

My photo
I believe in God- I am Married- I am a Mom of 2 + 2 dogs- I take pictures- I sew- I cook- Join me . . .

Copyright

Hey there:)
Please ask me for permission to use my photo's or any of my work.
I will share photo's or instruction if you ask. I try really hard to link to any work I have used.
If you find anything here that is yours and no credit given please let me know.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007


This is a dress I made for my daughter to go to a high school Dance The theme was "King of Hearts" We designed this together she wanted something red to go with the theme, but something she could wear again. I am the seamtress, photographer, hair and makeup stylist of this also known as MOM haha Review:
Pattern Description: This description is from the Burda website
Enchanting Empire-line dress for festive occasions. Strapless dress A with large decorative bow. The balloon skirt is stitched to the lining and gathered upwards. Dress B has broad gathered shoulder straps and a swirling skirt.
Fabric Used: Michael Miller red with large black polka dots 100%
cottonhttp://www.michaelmillerfabrics.com/MMF/Home.cfm?Gid=1126 And black stretch net with all over medium polka dots 100%nylon Lined with 100% poly lining ruffle is attatched to the skirt lining.
Recommended fabrics Taffeta, georgette, chiffon I really went off the trail on that one
Style changes and or alterations made: First I knew she wouldn’t like the bubble hem we used the flowing skirt I added 4 1/2” of the net to the lining hem as a ruffle 9” double folded ½” seam allowance. When I went fabric shopping it was such a score to find this net it is very soft and stretchy so it wasn’t like the usual stiff tulle ruffle. It flowed nicely with this very full dress. I cut 10” off the skirt pattern pieces my daughter is about 5’6” to give you an idea how long this dress is if you were to make it a bubble hem using the pieces I think it might look to long as stated in a review from pattern review here: http://sewing.patternreview.com/cgi-bin/readreview.pl?readreview=1&reviewnum=17969Other than that I didn’t differ much from the pattern
Here is another version of this dress
http://sewing.patternreview.com/cgi-bin/patterns/sewingpatterns.pl?patternid=12991#patternreviews

How were the instructions?: Burda always seems to lose something in the interpretation of its instructions I used them as guide lines and did it my way any hoot.

Did it look like the pattern picture?: The style did but with our choices of fabrics it gives this dress a completely different look not quite as dressy as the pattern envelope but this dance was semi formal so we were safe with the cotton and Michael Miller cottons are very high quality this is not the dollar stuff from Wal -mart very nice to work with.

Rating and recommendation: This dress was a pain to make lots of pieces as the front, back and straps are gathered as separate pieces so very time consuming but…….. it is darling. I don’t think I will make it again because it is a very definite style, maybe the strapless version shortened in a very casual fabric so my daughter can wear it over leggings or something for summer. I will recommend it if you don’t wait until the last second like I did lots of gathering and lots of pieces but she loved it as did all her friends plus she is worth it.

Final thoughts: The Top is very very fitted so this dress would not be great for a large busted gal. My DD said this dress was fun to wear because it is so swingy. She felt pretty and with a teen girl that makes this dress a true winner in my book. If any one else has or will be making this please post pics I just love how different the three I have found look
Blessings
Betty Jo (sewinstuff)
In my photo I included a side view of the top so you can see how fitted it is.
You have to cut and paste my links sorry I am still new to this

2 comments:

foxylady33 said...

Hello,
My name is Inna, I'm 19 years old and I will be a sophomore at Messiah College this upcoming school year. I am a pre-medicine major, but I love to sew as a hobby. Currently (since yesterday), I've been making the same dress you have made for your daughter, except I do not think I will have the straps. I am making this dress for a dance we will have in the Fall. I am not very experienced at sewing, considering I have only made two dresses before with the help of my friend. However, she moved and is no longer available. I'm finding the instructions for this pattern(Burda 7983) very confusing. If you could, I would really appreciate any advice or clarification about the directions in this pattern. You can e-mail me at ip1152@messiah.edu whenever you have time. Thank you!

BettyJo said...

When did you post this and yes I will help if you still need it.