Burda World of Fashion 04-2008-116

I bought this issue of the magazine a long time ago always wanting to make this dress, and now four years later I finally have. I've made two versions of this pattern.  One a little black sleeveless dress, and one as a short sleeve top.  I like the top a lot.  The dress wasn't quite as cute as I'd thought it be.  Part of the problem is I don't really like a V-neck with no sleeves on me, the other is that the fabric I was using is very thin and it kind of feels like I'm wearing pajamas in it.

I made lots of changes to the pattern and they all worked, so I was pretty impressed with myself.  The smallest size was a 38 and my measurements are about a 34 in Burda.  So I used my Jalie 2805 t-shirt pattern (size R) as a block to make changes to the Burda pattern.  I completely redrafted the top front from the Jalie pattern.  If I had graded down the Burda pattern the armscye would have been way too low, the shoulders too wide, and the front way too low.  I pretty much used the Jalie piece for the back.  For the lower front I graded down the Burda piece, made sure that the side seams matched up, and the seams from the lower front to lower back.  The result fit perfectly and best of all the under bust seam does not ride up at all. I completely disregarded the instructions to use strips of fabric to finish the edges and seams and simply folded the neckline over and top-stitched.

I'm sorry for the lack of quality and number of pictures.  It is really hard to get someone to take a picture of me, when the light is good, it is not raining, and me looking presentable.