The khaki shirtdress

Here's my second version of BWOF 5-2008-113 (the first one is here). The fabric is lighter in weight than my first one, I like this better.

The yellow details are quite subtle.

Belt loop detail

Pocket flap detail

Buttonband

This is such a great dress pattern, I highly recommend it. There are a lot of details to take care of, but overall it's an easy project.

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Tonight I'm working on a muslin of the increasingly popular Alison swimsuit from Burdastyle. This is my first time trying swimwear. Wish me luck...

Round 2

I finally started working on my second version of BWOF 5-2008-113, the easy chic, safari-ish, trench-y dress.


My inspiration for this version comes from the website of one of my favorite jewelry designers, Kimberly Baker (she's local to me, so I go to browse her wonderful shop every now and then). Unfortunately I don't know who the dress designer is, but I love how there is a bright yellow piece that peeks out from inside the model's sleeve.


For the fashion fabric of my dress, I'm using a really great khaki cotton poplin, it almost has a sheen to it. I found the yellow contrast fabric in the quilting cottons section, it was the only place I could find the right color.

I'll be doing the undercollar, the underside of the pocket flaps, and the long skinny button band in the yellow (I got more of those sliding buttons).

I'm off to watch Project Runway. I forgot it was on last night! Thank goodness for digital recorders.

BWOF Project of the Month: May

And now, back to the regularly scheduled programming: Sewing!

BWOF 5-2008-113

It's my May Burda mag project. I actually cut out the fabric in May but didn't get it finished until last week... (And did you notice that I skipped BWOF Project of the Month: April? I was occupied with my summer wardrobe then so I'm considering it a bye month).



Fabric
Cotton twill by Robert Kaufman in a brownish-grey color. The instructions suggest batiste, which would be too sheer unless it's underlined, but any shirting will do. My fabric is a bit on the heavier side, but it works.

Construction/alterations
I made only 2 alterations: I took out 3/4" length between the bust and waist, and I shortened the hem 1". This design has a fair amount of ease in the bodice, and it's meant to be cinched with a belt.



My favorite feature of this dress is the buttons. The instructions call for "buttons with two 6mm (a cant 1/4 inch) long slits each. I asked about these at my local fabric store and was pleased to find out they had exactly what I needed. Well, the slits are 9mm, but close enough. The total button diameter is 11/16 inch (18 mm) and they're made by Dill. They actually come in larger sizes as well.



You cut a long skinny strip of fabric, sew it into a tube, and turn it right side out to form the button band. My fabric was too thick to fit through the button slits so I used a coordinating light-weight cotton. After you slide the all of the buttons on the button band, you machine-stitch along either side to hold them in place.



Last night I noticed that my husband's RTW jacket from G-Star has similar buttons; they're held in place with twill tape.

I didn't get good pictures, but other neat features of this dress are the grommets on the pocket flaps (non-functional) and tons of topstitching - on the collar, hem, and belt. I started the project with a brand new spool of thread, the smallest size Mettler makes (150m); I ran out of thread near the end of the project and had to run out for more.



Conclusion
This pattern is rated only 1.5 dots, and it certainly is easy: cut-on kimono sleeves, cut-on button bands, and no waist seam. The details make it a bit time consuming but it's worth it in the end! I just bought fabric to make another...