Mr. Lina is sick, just a cold, sore throat, whatever. I left him to video games last night and thought I'd tackle the dress I mentioned yesterday, 118A (B being the shirt version). I pried back the staples and pulled the pattern pages out and started to unfold them. I had a Jaws moment.
My goodness those paper sheets are huge. I was already expecting a crazy eye chart of lines, but wow, that is really impressive. I don't like marking patterns directly, but I don't see how you can find the right line to trace without making it stand out more. So I got my highlighter out and was about to start when I realized I have no idea what size I am in Burda-land.
So I pulled out my measuring tape. This was not fun at all. I guess my belly was full of cabbage soup goodness, I am well aware I'm a little heavier than I was, but I had to check that waist measurement twice. It turns out it was crazy bloating because this morning my waist was 2 inches smaller. Crazy. I'm still not sure what the "best" size is for me because I'm all over the map and heading more to their plus sizes (but I want the regular size dress!) so I'll be adding generous seam allowances and a FBA.
I had my pink highlighter in hand, patters are opened to Page A as directed. I find piece 4. It's small. It's not suppose to be small. I find piece 3, it is also small, and is suppose to be small but it doesn't look quite like the layout diagram. Piece 1 and 2 are large so it's hard to see what the heck they DO look like until I've marked them in pink. I don't see the very distinctive V shapes that will create the single side gathers. The magazine refers to piece 1A and I don't see a 1A. I was very confused.
There is a shirt version (118B) of this dress (118A). Fehr Trade pointed out the difference in fabric between the "tweed" dress to the shirt. The shirt has a metallic quality to it and seems stiffer. So instead of a soft side gathers, it looks kind of wrinkled extra fabric at the waist. I also think it's a little tighter across the bust than what is ideal.
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I find the fabric description of "techno gabardine" a bit amusing. Is it best used for light switch raves?
Anyhoo... back to the enormo-pattern sheet that just fits on the dining room table when folded into 4 so I only see Page A. I look up the shirt pattern in the book and it says that pieces are on Page B, not Page A. So I do a little origami to get page B facing up and sure enough, I see the V's, I only have one small piece, I have a sleeve, I have darts. But I'm not that trusting. I figure maybe there is something else wrong or a reason the shirt/dress are different, someone else has probably figured that out. Google to the rescue!
So I send a special thank you to Allison C who already made it up twice and confirmed the misprint. Doesn't she look awesome in this pinstriped version? I also learned that I'll need to be sure I pick a fabric that has a fairly dense weave because the front skirt ends up on the bias and it's causing her problems with the cranberry version.
I have also decided that since I have to piece 1 and 1A to make the front of the dress (and it's really wide), my usual tactic of using parchment paper isn't going to work so well. I like parchment paper, it's easy to see through and I don't have too many complaints about not folding or tearing, but it won't tape together well. One of my clients is near Ikea, I have read other people using their kids paper for tracing. Any thoughts?
I like the look of that dress! Good luck! I use the Ikea kids paper for pattern drafting mostly, it's opaque so you need a glass table and lamp underneath to see through for tracing... This works well with regular patterns but since the Burda sheets are printed on both sides I think it might be confusing. I usually buy the Burda giant tracing paper sheets at fabricland. They aren't the cheapest but they are so convenient.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with all the doctory stuff going on, too.
If it's that opaque, then it will have uses but not this project. I bought some tissue papper. The ripping is going to drive me a little crazy but have to do a FBA once I get it traced anyhow so it will at least get it off the crazy pattern page.
DeleteThanks, seems to have passed the TB test. One hurdle down...
We have a fabric store that sells rolls of the tissue paper like what they use on the examination tables in the doctor's office. It's fairly narrow, so you'd have to do some taping if you were making say, a really full skirt, but otherwise, you should be good to go and they last for a long time. So next dr. appointment, see if they'll give you a roll.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind taping when it actually sticks together. The whole point of baking with parchment paper is that things don't stick to it.
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