Tag Archives: Burda 8511

Classic and cool

04/12/2009 6:29 am \ 2 Comments \ Carolyn

I think of this dress as my “indestructible” dress, as no matter how roughly it gets treated it washes up as fresh looking as the day it was made, about three or four years ago. It must be the polyester crepe; crease resistant, stain resistant, pill resistant, tough and sturdy. I used Burda 8511 and laid the front and back pieces down crosswise (hemline on selvedge) to get the border print right and with the back piece on a central fold to eliminate the centre back seam (which would have broken up the print). I moved the invisible zipper to the left side seam and sewed the darts in the back much deeper and longer, to improve the somewhat sack-like appearance of the original pattern. The hem is minimal, to get the dress length and placement of the border print just where I wanted it.
Obviously the indestructible dress has been quite useful in my wardrobe. In its heyday it was deemed dressy enough to wear with heels to smart lunches and fashion parades, now it serves as an attractive daytime knockabout dress for hot weather. Sometimes a perverse side of me wishes it would get shabby, or suddenly show a hole or a spot that won’t come out, then I could freely evict it with no guilty conscience. But it keeps coming up from its wash; spotlessly white, crisp, all classic looking and glamourous, so back into the wardrobe it goes.
OK, you can tell I’m a little bored with it, but its just too damn useful to ever frivolously toss out. And on a sweltering hot day it’s the one I sigh with relief when I spy it lurking amongst the other dresses in the wardrobe, “Oh, yes, the perfect dress” and grab it for yet again another day out…

Other details:
Sandals; Sportscraft, from David Jones

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Burda 8511, dress, Fabulous fabrics

Space Age nun

03/11/2009 4:28 am \ 2 Comments \ Carolyn

When I saw this heavy, slightly shiny fabric at Fabulous Fabrics I immediately visualised this dress. I pictured something severe and unusual. When it was finished and I first put it on and looked at myself I immediately thought, “Futuristic nun.” Sort of what Sister Perpetua on board a space station like Battlestar Galactica would be wearing, say. Still, I really like the dress, and feel it’s quite unusual and perhaps it will help me get in touch with my inner sci-fi geek.
The dress is basically Burda 8511 with some modifications. Namely the centre back seam was eliminated to make the back one piece, and the front and back panels were cut with no shaping down the side. I sewed the front shaping darts, but not those on the back. I inserted shorter white panels inside the side seams, inset under the front and back panels by about 2cm and with an inverted pleat at the underarm seam. The final effect is of a white slip underneath a heavier tunic. I had enough of this white fabric leftover to make this top. The dress has no zips or buttons as it’s loose enough to just pull over my head. The white velvet ribbon is simply sewn inside the side seams at the waist and tied to bring the whole thing in together and give it some shape.
The pendant is one that was given to me by my parents probably back in the mid seventies. Its pewter, made by Jorgen Jensen of Denmark, and has a poem inscribed on the front. It reads as follows: