Pink Eclaire pencil skirt

Remember that Burda sew-along, way back in May?

And remember how I (somewhat rashly) said I was going to make something from each of the Burda magazines I own?

Yeah. Well, I got as far as making a blouse from the first one in the pile, and that was all I had for show-and-tell in May. But, that’s not actually all that I did! I cut out, and partially stitched up, two other garments – one each from the January and February 2013 editions.

Shamefully, I still haven’t finished the blouse (I got a bit distracted by the pajama party and the Indie pattern month), but the skirt has been done for a good three weeks, and finally got photographed in the weekend. Woo hoo! So, here it is – BurdaStyle 01/2013 skirt #124…. (Their pattern names leave a bit to be desired, don’t they?)

Sure, the pattern I used was for a leather skirt, and I went with some unknown wool/acrylic blend thing, but hey, the basic pattern remained the same. 🙂

I did make a few adjustments, though. There was no way I was ever going to be able to walk normally in this skirt pattern (a pencil skirt without a vent or kickpleat in the back? How do people walk in those things?!?), although I did try trusting the pattern and stitched it up with no kickpleat to start with. Sure enough, walking ability seriously hampered.

So I measured out where I needed extra space for stride length, and unpicked to that length to create a back vent.

At which point, I concluded that, yes, the measurement was right in that I could now walk comfortably. However, I didn’t like the look of the back vent.

So I improvised, cut out a rectangle, and stitched up a kickpleat. Sure, it’s got a seam where drafted-on kickpleats don’t, but you know what? That doesn’t bother me so much. Instead – I have a pencil skirt I can walk in, that I like! This makes me happy. 🙂

Pencil skirts aren’t really my ‘thing’, but I’m quite liking this one. As may be evidenced by the wrinkles, after a day’s wear.

Oh yes, and I forgot to get photos of this part, but it’s fully lined in a nice dark burgundy, and I was very proud of myself because I did a hand-stitched invisible hem. This is quite a Big Deal for me, lazy sewasaurusrex that I am. I really do need to do more hand-stitched invisible hems – sure, they take a lot longer, but they make me smile when I look at them, so it’s worth it. (Even if that sentence does remind me of a Pantene ad… *shrug*)

So anyway – pink pencil skirt! Yay!

And a big thank-you to Claire, who sent me the January 2013 edition of BurdaStyle I used to make this skirt – you’re fabulous, and this skirt wouldn’t have been here without you! So it’s kinda named after you, and also after cake because, well, I like cake.

Final Burda sew-along round up

To quote Dr Seuss, the time has come. The time has come, the time is now. It’s time for…

the final round up of creations from the Burda sew-along!

And oh my, what a lovely lot of creations they are. So many wonderful, talented people took part in the sew along, it’s been great seeing what everyone made. 🙂

(It’s also been great conquering my fear of Burda magazines. I feel like a whole new world has opened up for my sewing! Yee-hah!)

I’m a bit ashamed to admit it, but I failed at my goal of making four Burda garments during the month. I completed one, nearly completed another (I just need to unpick part of the waistband and re-do it, and then I’ll have a pencil skirt to show you), and got 1/3rd of the way through a third. Oh well, you’ll just have to live in anticipation of seeing the other two projects a bit later on. 😉

But for now, want to see what else has been made? Here we go – click on the images to go through to the blog posts about them….

Cardigan 107 from March edition by No Time To Sew

Final muslin by Thanks I Made This Myself

Light Cowl Top 01/2013 And Tie Skirt 08/2012 by Velvet Ribbon

Burda 7863 skinny jeans by Handmade by Maryall

Welt pocket from Burda Magazine 11/2012 107C trousers by Will Work For Fabric

Skirt 111 from Burda 07/2009 by The Curious Kiwi

Unfinished Burda 2/2009 # 115/116 by Monique P

Feather and leather top by Heather Ball

Burda 7587 swing jacket by Whimsical

03/2013 #107 cardigan, 02/2013 #106 jacket, and 01-2013 #107 dress by Desedera Designs

Want to see what else was made during the Burda sew-along? You can find the first two round up posts here and here.

You can also see a round-up of Burda sew-along creations over on the Pinterest board.

Thanks so much to everyone who took part – The Curious Kiwi and I had a lot of fun, and we hope that you did, too! 🙂

Burda sew-along extended, and another challenge begins

We’ve heard you, and we agreed – we’re extending the Burda sew-along so everyone has a chance to finish what they’re working on. (Including me – two things cut out and partially sewn, I need a few more days to get them finished. Oops!)

So the new end date will be Sunday 9 June. I’ll do the final wrap-up post on Monday 10 June and we can all pat ourselves on the back for a job well done and Burda fears overcome. 😀

Want to see what everyone has been up to? You can see the first two round-ups here and here. Also have a look on the sew-along Pinterest board to see all the pretty pictures of creations, inspirations, and works in progress.

And now….

Ready for the next challenge?

The Curious Kiwi and I declare that June is Indie Patterns Month!

That’s right, we’ve shown the love to the Burda brand, now it’s time to let the indie designers represent. Sew up something from an indie pattern (or two, or three). Buy another pattern or two to add to your collection. Do a review. Whatever you want, let’s show ’em some love and support! (Because really, indie designers are pretty darn awesome and we want them to keep producing lovely designs.)

There’ll be a badge coming out soon, and we’ll have round-up posts and the like as well.

What do you think – will you be showing an indie designer or two some love this month?

Myself, I’m going to start off with the La Slyphide dress from Papercut Patterns. Isn’t it cute?

Papercut Patterns – La Sylphide dress

The “Anne” Blouse

Guess what? I finally made something! OMG!!! Yes folks, it’s been a while. Far, far too long. Over a month. And not for lack of inspiration or desire to create. Nope, I’ve got lots of plans, lots of patterns, lots of fabric. Just not a lot of time. But hey, my new rule – 5 minutes sewing a day. Eventually, things get completed. Eventually.

So here it is – my first creation for the WSBN Burda Sew-along – the ‘Anne’ blouse!

Which also happens to be my first-ever creation from a Burda magazine. Yes, when I unfolded the pattern sheet, I got scared. And when I looked at the (pathetic) instructions, I got even more scared. But I pulled on my big-girl pants, stepped up to the tracing challenge, and you know what? It really wasn’t that hard! Not hard at all, in fact. (Once I discovered that the numbers down the bottom of the sheet show you where to look for each correlating pattern piece, so you don’t have to sift through all the text on the pattern sheet trying to spot pattern piece number 8 and so on. Wish I’d discovered that a bit earlier on in the tracing journey, but hey, now I know for next time.)

In fact, it was so not-hard, I’ve already traced out my next pattern to make up. And have plans for more. (Seriously folks, if you’ve been putting off sewing from a Burda magazine for fear of the tracing, fear not. It’s no where near as hard as it looks. Go on – get brave and give it a go!)

So, this blouse, It’s pattern number #122 from the October 2012 edition of Burda Style. And here’s where I’d like to give a big thank-you to Anne, who sent me this magazine as part of a swap we did. Thanks Anne! 🙂

I choose this blouse because of the yoke – it’s rather interesting. I found it hard to tell from the image (and even harder to tell from the instructions) but the yoke is hanging free on two sides, and stitched in to the shoulder and sleeve seams on the other two. It’s also not quite the same shape/size as the neckline, so you have a subtle double-layer effect where they overlap. (I had to go hunting for made-up versions of this over on Burdastyle to be sure about this, the instructions were that poor.)

There are darts in front and back for shaping, and with no collar either it’s a very easy blouse to make up. (It still took me a good week-and-a-half to make, but hey, like I said earlier, 5 minutes sewing a day will get you there. Eventually.)

The original design is about 6-7 inches longer – I shortened it so I can wear it out over skirts. I also shortened the sleeves, simply because I didn’t have enough fabric for long sleeves. (*cough* design decision *cough*) Now here is where things got a bit frustrating – I made this up in the right size for my measurements. And it was far too big. (Except across the shoulders, where it fits fine.) I’m wondering if this is because I’m used to sewing with vintage patterns, and modern patterns have far more ease? Those of you who sew from Burda magazines – do you find they have far more ease than you need? Or is it perhaps just this one pattern?

(Now I look at the picture again, it does seem to be intentionally a bit loose. Hmmm…. Should look more closely at that next time.)

Anyway, I took it in by over an inch on each side seam at the waist, tapering up to the sleeves and down to the hem. I think it’s still a bit loose, but I’m not 100% sure – it feels loose, but my Other Half is of the opinion that it fits fine. I’d like a second opinion here folks – should I take it in a bit more, or leave it as it is? Be honest here!

I made a couple of changes in the construction methods as well. When it comes to the free-hanging yoke, the instructions don’t ask you to sew up the section that lies next to the neckline. Instead, you’re just meant to turn the seam allowance under and leave it. Um, what? I ignored that. Rather, I folded the yoke pieces in half, right sides together, stitched up that seam, turned them out the right way again, and then went back to following the instructions. Nice and neatly stitched together, and no visible stitching. Easy as.

I also choose to use domes instead of buttons. Because sewing with a hammer is fun. And I get to feel like Superman when I get changed at night. The fun in feeling like Superman at the end of the day cannot be underestimated. I urge you all to sew with hammers, make a top that does up with domes, and give it a try. Seriously, go and do it!

So, there we have it. The Anne blouse. My first ever Burda magazine creation. I’m rather pleased with it, even if I’m not yet convinced by the fit. And on that note, excuse me – I’m off to trace another pattern. Happy sewing, folks! 🙂

Roundin’ up the Burda Sew-along progress….

The WSBN Burda Sew-along is in full swing! There are pins popping up with inspirations and creations over on the Pinterest board, and blog posts appearing around the place too. It’s so exciting seeing what everyone is planning and making for this challenge!

I’ve just finished my first creation for the challenge – there’ll be a post up about that later this week once photos are sorted out. But in the meantime, here’s the first of the challenge round-ups…. (click on the images to go to the original blog posts)

Flossie FT – the boat top

Flossie FT’s boat top – check out that fabric, so adorable with it’s little anchors everywhere!

Every Stitch I Make – Project 20

Every Stitch I Make has made a pretty, flowey, drapey knit fabric top in a lovely shade of red.

Woodland Rabbit – Burda Style 4-2013-121

Woodland Rabbit created this pretty summer dress, made from a vintage bed sheet, using Burda Style 04/2013, pattern #121.

kbenco’s projects – Burda Style 03-2013-151 tshirts

kbenco has been busy, making three variations of the Burda Style 03/2013 #151 boys tshirt. (Check out the cyclist on the raglan sleeve – love it!)

Woodland Rabbit – Burda Style 9-2011-128

Woodland Rabbit’s on a roll! She’s also made a lovely shirt using pattern #128 from Burda Style 09/2011.

Sewing For Me – purple tunic

Sewing For Me made a lovely purple tunic using pattern #137 from Burda edition 03/2011.

Gotten all inspired by the creations and want to make up a Burda pattern yourself? These may help…

Every Stitch I Make – Tracing a Burda pattern

Every Stitch I Make put together a helpful post on how she traces and stores her Burda patterns.

The Curious Kiwi – unraveling Burda “instructions”

The Curious Kiwi wrote a great post on how to translate the “instructions” that come with Burda magazine.

Burdas, Burdas everywhere

I’m surrounded by Burda magazines! They’re scattered in every direction, scattered to the four winds.

By which I mean – I have a grand total of four Burda magazines.

Yes, that’s right. Only four. And three of those I’ve acquired this year. What can I say? I’m a bit late to the discovering-the-awesomeness-that-is-Burda-magazines game. But I’m here now, and I have every intention of adding to my meager Burda collection, yes indeed!

But in the meantime, wanna play show-and-tell with Burdas? Here are mine:

First up, my Very First Burda. All the way from April 2005. I picked this one up for the grand total of 20c at the annual library sale of withdrawn books a couple of years ago and have been meaning to try using a pattern from here ever since. The pattern I want to use changes, but the intention is still there.

Following on, in order of date-of-publication, is this one, from October 2012.

I acquired this one through the recent stash-swapping party, from the lovely Anne of Mercury Handmade Fashions. (I sent her some Fijian island print fabric in exchange, which she made into a cute skirt for one of her daughters – check it out over here.)

The next two came together from the lovely Claire of Sew, Incidentally. I was super lucky and won one of her second-blogging-birthday prizes, and these were part of the amazing package she sent me! (That I just realised I still haven’t blogged about. Oops! Sorry, Claire! I really must do that soon – the tailors ham she sent me is a Thing Of Beauty, and I’ve been learning how to use it properly so I can prove myself worthy of it.) They’re the January and February 2013 editions, so pretty and shiny and new (and now bookmarked, haha!):

My plan for the Burda Sew-along is to make one thing from each magazine during May.

Yes, that’s a lot. Especially since my sewing was very unproductive in April. But I’m determined to figure out this whole work-life balance thing, and having a sewing target will hopefully help me do that and carve out even just 15 minutes for myself each day! One must have self-time, after all, or one may go a bit bonkers. (Hmmm, might be too late for that, if that last sentence is any indicator….)

First up is #122, a blouse from the October 2012 edition.

It’s got rather interesting yoke details – they’re only attached at the shoulder seam and the sleeve, so the other two sides hang free. Took me ages to decide what fabric to make this one up in – the first three I decided on I didn’t have quite enough of, so I’ve settled on a brown floral. Of which there wasn’t enough to make long sleeves, so I’m doing a short-sleeved version. My first ever Burda pattern experience! So far, it’s going quite well, but I’ll tell you more about that another day.

How about you? If you’re joining in the sew-along, what pattern/s have you decided on? (And have you seen the Pinterest board for the sew-along? There are some pretty inspiration pictures and fabrics starting to appear on it! If you want to be added to the board so you can pin too, let me know your Pinterest name below and we’ll get you on it to join in the fun.)

Time to show some love to those Burda mags?!?

If you’re anything like me, and a large number of the people-who-sew that I know, you’ve got a Burda magazine (or two, or thirty) lying around. Chances are, you’ve thumbed through it a few times, spotted projects you want to make, but never quite gotten around to making them.

Well, do we have the sew along for you! This May it’s Burda Sew Along month! That’s right, it’s the Month Of Showing Love To Our Burda Magazines. (MOSLTOBM for short. Hah.)

How did this all come about? Well, a few weeks ago I met up with Sandra and Mel, a couple of my fellow Wellington Sewing Bloggers Network peeps. (We needed an in-between meet-ups fix of talking about sewing and blogging with fellow sewing-blogging geeks. And hey, it’s a good excuse to get out of the office and lounge around on the grass eating sushi.) As tends to happen when sewing-blogging types get together, we spent a lot of excited time talking about projects – current ones, future planned ones, future ones that hadn’t even been thought of until we got together. There were some we had in common, and this was one of those – Mel and I both had the desire to tackle some of those Burda magazine patterns we’d been meaning to tackle for a while.

And then we thought, what the heck, chances are other lovely people have those magazines they’ve been meaning to sew from for a while. So…. why not host a sew along?! And thus the inaugural Burda Magazine Sew Along was born.

Want to join in? It’s simple really – just sew something from a Burda magazine during May. Let us know you’re taking part, so we can include your creation(s) in round-up posts. There’ll be some posts on tips and tricks with working with Burda patterns, and various other Burda magazine related posts as well.

We’ve even got a group Pinterest board where people can share inspiration/creations/etc.

Wanna join us in showing some love to those Burda mags? Go sign up over here.

Burda fun times ahead for all! 🙂