My dear friend Yoshimi sent to me a beautiful birthday present last year; some really beautiful, deep indigo blue linen gauze… The colour is quite glorious, not a solid colour but mottled and variegated with plenty of depth and character; and the texture is ultra light and sheer, quite breezy and with a slight stiffness very similar to organza. It’s utterly lovely.
It’s taken me quite a while to decide what to make with this precious stuff… I would take it out and pet it, thinking of a million options. I layed out several different patterns onto it, only to pack them all up again… obviously it had to be perfect, also I really wanted to make the absolute MOST of every little bit using a pattern resulting in as little waste as possible! I finally settled upon this Burda pattern, Shirt Dress 03/2016; 112B, The pattern pieces fitted on my piece of precious fabric PERFECTLY!!
However.. modifications happened along the way. Of course they did. My dress has the same bones, but the original is actually a very boxy design, with quite a pronounced dropped shoulder. I’m sure it’s a lovely design for the right fabric; as in, something with plenty of natural “flop” that allows those shoulder seams to drop gracefully down over your upper arm.
My fabric doesn’t want to flop in the slightest; while super-breezy it stil has quite a bit of oomph and structure. It works beautifully in the tailored details of a shirtdress, but really the shoulders did not drape in the desired manner at all… So I ended up taking quite a bit of width off from each shoulder and side, and slimming down the sides of the dress bodice too, so my final dress is more like a gentle A-line shape. I couldn’t say I “self-drafted” the armholes, that just sounds terribly pompous when it was basically just tonnes of super careful pinning and multiple tryings-on. I’m so so happy with the final result though. I think the more fitted, yet still loosely relaxed shoulders, the slimmer bodice and A-line shape is perfect for the fabric.
Other alterations: I inverted the pleat the other way in the centre back, also left off the placket to hide the buttonhole band. Fun fact; my pattern is the German version, and while I plugged the instructions into Google translate I actually couldn’t make head nor tail of them, haha!! I think I’ve made enough shirts that I managed to put it together ok though 🙂
I LOVE the sleeves which are unchanged from the pattern, they’re only very slightly gathered at the top, and blouse-y at the elbow, with deep pleats taming that blousiness into the bands. I also love the petite little collar. The collar stand is the tiniest I’ve ever made, so skinny and narrow, only about 1.5cm deep. I was slightly terrified how this would go, fortunately, the linen gauze was an absolute delight to sew and eased beautifully everywhere I asked it to. Like sheer heaven.
I found these awesomely cool yet delicate brass buttons at Fabulous Fabrics. I’ve previously used these very same buttons before, on my khaki linen “army” shirt; five and a half years ago!! I’m so glad they still are stocking these; they’re quite old-fashioned-y, a bit dinged-up and antique-y looking, so very much to my taste!
I also made a little matching belt, which is basically an interfaced waistband with just one button and two buttonholes.
With the fabric being the divine will o’ the wisp that it is, my new dress needed a slip; so I hemmed it so as to work well with my ivory crepe Ruby slip. You can see the slip when I’m wearing it, but hey; you were going to see any slip I wear with this ultra-sheer dress! so it may as well be a nice one! I really love the way the ivory underneath lightens and brightens and highlights the variegated blues and really brings them to life.
I absolutely adore my new dress; thank you so much, Yoshimi!!
Details:
Dress; Burda Shirt Dress 03-2016;112B slimmed down a bit, Japanese indigo linen gauze
Slip; pattern scissors cloth Ruby Slip, a free pattern available here; ivory crepe, details of mine here
Shoes; made by me and my own design, details here
Location, the Crawley boatshed, Crawley, Western Australia
yes; it was blowing a freaking gale, not really ideal but I had the photo opportunity so *shrug*…
Funny story; this is a very popular spot for wedding parties and also for tourists to stop and take pictures. I rocked up and there was a Chinese man taking pictures, so I waited at a little distance for him to finish… once he had I went over and put my camera on the steps. However he hung around for a bit, then came back and started gesturing to his camera and at me; at first I thought he was asking if I wanted assistance with my pictures and I assured him that I was fine, gesturing that I had my remote, etc. However, no! what he wanted was for me to be in his pictures!! eeeek! he demonstrated where he wanted me to stand and how he wanted me to pose, gazing up into the sun and beaming like a stereotypical sun-worshipping Aussie. He took quite a lot of pictures, so if you ever see me popping up in some Chinese guy’s holiday photos, that’s why!!!
I must say if I saw you standing there, I would be tempted to ask if I could take your photo too! It’s such an awesome shot (but just as well you had your Ruby Slip on haha!)
The linen gauze looks interesting from the close up. I’m glad it behaved for you when sewing the collar stand – I’ve had a completely different experience with a fine linen before!
Just gorgeous….and I had a lol moment reading the last bit!
It is a great shot! You do rather match the building in the rear rather well!
Your dress is lovely. You have chosen a great versatile style for the fabric.
I love Japanese gauze, and I can’t understand why more fabric stores don’t stock more than just a few rolls. Brilliant for our climate (well WA’s normal summer climate!)
This dress looks wonderful.
Really lovely! Such a great colour on you.
Your dress is beautiful and I love the variegated colour of the fabric.
Lovely! This fabric is a dream come true. The dress is beautiful, and the hint of slip makes it even more interesting.
Wonderful dress. It’s very understandable though that you weren’t able to understand the instructions. There is a thing in Germany called Burda-German. It isn’t actual german. They use techical terms I have never heard of, a lot of the sentences don’t follow a grammar that is known to mankind outside of the people who work for Burda…It takes a few year and good guesses to get those instructions even if you are german. 😉
Oh that’s so cool to hear, Nele. My husband helped me with my Burda Magazine patterns. He majored in German literature, so he’d dutifully translate for me. Then I’d have to translate what he came up with into, essentially, “Sewing-English.”
And I gradually learned not to rely on written instructions so much – a very useful lesson!
Lovely! One can never go wrong with a shirt dress, and this one is really special.
perfect little dress.. and perfect fabric and pattern combo, it’s a good thing you waited for the right pattern for this one 🙂 gonna have to sew me something similar, once the spring is here
I love that fabric too Caroline! So hard to find a fabric that has body yet is light and airy too. I’m just finishing a shirt dress now in a lovely Indian cotton that I sourced locally. I was skeptical when I bought this cotton that it would hold its colour and shape upon washing and it did! It came out exactly the same as it went into the washer which completely astounded me. But yours in this super light textured fabric is gorgeous. The sort of dress I would probably wear out 🙂
Lovely dress! That boatshed picture is jaw-dropping beautiful! What a funny story about the Chinese man wanting you in his pictures!
I love this! The fabric is amazing, even in photos. I can’t imagine how lovely it is in real life! I love the way the pattern turned out too. I mentally pulled this dress up to the front of my to-sew list, but may look for something else if you had to do all that work on the shoulders. Or I just need to get my hands on some fabric with lots of drape!
I love this dress, what a perfect use for that fabric. And that last photo is so great.
I cannot even make sense of German Burda instructions, haha. So how could you? For real, German seamstresses are always complaining about not understanding what the instructions want them to do. Maybe I should try an English Burda! Moving on to your dress! I love it! The fabric is so beautiful, those colours! And I love what you’ve made with it! This is the perfect pattern and the sleeves fit great. Thanks for the Chinese guy story, made me laugh 🙂
I’m not at all surprised the Chinese man wanted you in his pictures, you look fabulous! I love this dress and the style is perfect for the beautiful fabric
Gorgeous dress and I love what you did with the sleeves Carolyn. I do mostly prefer a more tailored look. My friend recently brought back 4 x lots of a similar double gauze from Japan, pretty sure one of them was this colourway. They were more forgiving than I’d expected once I got sewing. Great job on the teeny tiny collar band. When I read your blog I am so often inspired to ‘investigate’ the patterns you use, thanks for the inspo!
Another beauty! what perfect matching of pattern to glorious fabric. And the slip underneath is inspired. Love the colour of this fabric. Such depth.
Well, now I want a dress just like yours! I can’t understand Burda instructions in English, German, nor in Polish, and I usually think of myself as competent in all three of these languages. Apparently not in their Burda dialect versions. I want to persevere, though, because I like so many of their designs.
That Ruby slip of yours is so versatile. I need to make one, too. But first I should set about constructing a time-producing, or at least time-delaying machine. So many non-sewing related work, so little time for sewing!
Linnen gauze sounds perfect for your hot temperatures of summer! You have made a gorgeous dress and I like the silhouette very much!
I can believe that a google translation of german burda instructions are not intelligible. The burda german is very technical and a lot of germans don’t understand it even in german.
The alterations you have made are very succesful and I love the cute neat collar!
I ended up with an Ottobre magazine only in German but when I emailed them they were able to send me a pdf of the English instructions. I wonder if Burda would do the same?? Not that some of their English instructions are all that illuminating….
I had earmarked this one, now you’re tipping me over the edge! What a beaute.
You have certainly done this gorgeous fabric justice with this pattern. Beautiful dress!
Beautiful dress, and gorgeous pictures. That boathouse is so pretty I can understand the ‘photographer appeal’.
I prefer with the belt ! The fabric is just the one it need for this pattern !
What an interesting story! You look amazing in the dress so no wonder the guy wanted you in his pictures! The fabric is very lovely.
This is the challenge of sewing, using the right fabric with the right design and you do this so well. The fabric is very beautiful in its closeup. Lovely dress and I’m not surprised that someone wanted you to model.
Beautiful dress and lovely story to go with it. Actually two stories 🙂 Great photos as usual. The last one is perfect!
So cute!!
Love the Japanese fabric and the shoes you made!!
Xo
That collar is perfection!
I’ve not been in love with the shirtdress trend….but then just saw this one. Thanks for the heads up and help with those inscrutable directions.
I adore this dress, and your story of your Crawley boatshed experience is hysterical.
What a perfect use of the fabric. Love shirt makers.
Beautiful shirt dress, your adjustments are perfect and the linen gauze sounds so divine.
What a perfectly perfect dress for such a precious piece of fabric! Beautiful! Fits beautifully and not surprised a tourist would want you in his photographs! 🙂