BurdaStyle 8/15 124a Ponte Top with 3/4 sleeves

I've been wanting to make this top for a while now, but over summer I wanted to concentrate on lighter weight clothes.  Now we are into autumn I finally got around to making it.

This is the magazine photo and description:

This form-fitting shirt is for experienced seamstresses who enjoy a challenge and possibly puzzles because all parts must fit together exactly right. It’s a structured top and much more than just your average “long sleeve shirt” as you can easily dress it up with a pleated skirt.

It is also available in a dress length.

I got some ponte from Spotlight to make this.  It needed .8m x 147cm of each colour.  It has an invisible zip in the back.  It took careful sewing to ensure the colour blocks were carefully matched and no material got puckered when doing the corners.  I'm pretty pleased with how mine turned out.

Today is my mothers 80th birthday.  I wore this top with the straight black skirt above when we went out for lunch.  It feels really smart.

I wouldn't mind making this again in different colours.

Narrow Pleated Skirt in corduroy

I've had some corduroy in my stash for almost a year.  It was on the special table at Spotlight and cost  just $10 for 2 metres, though it was just 112cm wide.

The pattern I had in mind was this from the 2/2015 issue of BurdaStyle magazine


I patiently traced out all of the pattern, laid the pattern out on the fabric - and I was about 20cm short on fabric.  So back to the magazines.  This time I found #107 in the 10/2015 issue



It is described as :This skirt pattern is a nice piece to be made with a wool material for colder weather. It has narrows pleats, a front zipper and small slit.

Not included in the description are side pockets and a faux flap pocket on the back.

This skirt had a lot of challenges for me.  My first skirt vent, my first fly zipper.  The back has a faux flap pocket, again a first for me.  BurdaStyle instructions assume you know how to do things, so I spent a lot of time looking at various YouTube videos on how to do skirt vents and fly zippers.  Once I understood them, the BurdaStyle instructions made sense.  However the faux flap pocket had me stumped.  I couldn't  find any tutorials to help, so ended up doing it my own way.  The skirt pockets and inside the flap are lined.  I used some remanant lining I had left over after lining my linen jacket..  It is a lavender colour so goes nicely with the grey corduroy.

Here is my finished skirt.

I had cut the waistband about 1inch longer than the pattern called for thinking I could trim it if it was too long.  If anything it was a touch too short.  Next time I'll add about 3 inches to it.  I blind stitched the hem for a smooth finish.  I like the waistband, it is cut quite broad and doubled over, so with the interfacing it is very firm.

 I am really happy with this.  It is a lovely casual skirt.  I met a friend for lunch yesterday and wore this.  I'd like to make a one in denim and another in a heavy cotton.

BurdaStyle magazine November 2015

 I finished this top from the November issue.  This is the magazine photo and info:

This sweet blouse in a printed silk features little bows that are tied at each of the sleeve hems. It features a round crew-neck with a slight keyhole cutout that is cinched with a loop and knob.

The description is a bit misleading as it is a bit more than a slight keyhole cutout.  I found that keyhole was way too low, below my bra line so I ended up hand stitching 4 inches closed.  The loop and knob is a loop and button closure.  I was very happy with the button.  I had just this one navy and pink button in my button box and it perfectly matched the navy background and pink fabric.

Apart from the low neckline I like the top.  It is gathered at both front and back neckline which gives quite a pretty effect.  I made this in viscose from SmartDress fabrics in Mt Albert, Auckland.  I had 1.4 metres at 150cm wide and I needed all of the fabric.  Total cost was $13.93.

BurdaStyle shirt for Mam

Just a quick post here to show the latest shirt I've made for Mam.  It is the same as the one in the previous post but made from some pretty cotton that is imported from Japan.  I made a narrow shoulder adjustment using Nancy Zieman's Pivot and Slide method as the first shirt was a bit too wide.

I will be giving both of these to Mam for her 80th birthday coming up in a few weeks.

BurdaStyle shirt, testing Northumberland Star block quilt

My mother has been having trouble finding the style of shirt in shops that she likes.  She likes ones similar to my New Look Shirt that I blogged about here.  She takes a larger size than I do and the New Look pattern isn't large enough for her, so I scoured my BurdaStyle magazines to find a pattern I could use for her.  I found #129 in the 11/2015 edition that I thought I would be able to adapt to her tastes.  This is the magazine photo:


There were a few changes I needed to make.  I didn't want long sleeves and instead of straight hems I wanted a curved hem.  I used my New Look pattern to redraft the bottom of the shirt and to change the sleeves.  Here is the completed shirt:

This shirt was fabric from Smart Dress Fabrics and cost $11 for 2.2m x 150cm

I have some more material to make her another shirt.  She has tried it on and it has turned out well, though next time I will make a narrow shoulder adjustment.

In my last post I mentioned I was interested in making a quilt using the Northumberland Star pattern. I've made up a couple of practice blocks to see how they turned out and to make sure I can do a decent job of it.  The one on the left was my first block and some of the joins are a bit out.  For the second one I followed a tip to use a scant 1/4 inch seam instead of a full 1/4 inch and it turned out much better.  I think I'll do another couple of blocks and turn these into a table runner.  If I'm still happy then a shopping trip will be needed to get fabric for a bed quilt. My favourite flowers are daffodils and I have a daffodil Maling plate on display on my dresser, so I'd love to find some daffodil fabric for the centre blocks.

StyleArc Barb pants and cross stitch Spirit of Winter framed, visit to quilt show

One clothing finish this week.  A pair of Style Arc Barb pants.  These are made from bengaline, the colour is called petrol and is a greeny blue.  Fabric was from Spotlight, unfortunately I forgot to record how much this was and how much fabric I had. I think around $20.

I got Spirit of Winter back from the framers this week.

 I've moved my cross stitch pictures around in my living room. I'm not so keen on some of the older pieces now.  The more recent ones I've done are so much more like paintings I really prefer these so want them to have pride of place.  This is the main wall behind my couch.

I also visited a quilters show put on by the Western Quilters circle.  There were some beautiful quilts there.

I'm quite keen on trying to make a quilt for my bed.  I've discovered a design called the Northumberland Star.  Being originally from the North East of England this seems an obvious choice for me to try.   I've found this tutorial here at Quilters Cache.
I'm practicing first by doing 3 blocks which I'll make into a table runner for my dining table.  If I'm any good at it and if I think I'll enjoy it, then I'll get some fabric to make a quilt.  I've pieced 2 blocks so far but no photos yet.

New Look shirt and Burdastyle top

I've made yet another shirt using New Look 6963.  This time I went with the short version with short sleeves.

 This was made from cotton poplin from Spotlight.  I had a 2.5 metre x 112cm length that cost $17.48.

I also made a pleated blouse from BurdaStyle magazine 10/2015 #115A.

I struggled with the top part and couldn't understand the Burda instructions:" turn facing to inside and pull the front pleat section to outside. Baste loose neck edge of facing to facing fold line.  Lay pleat over facing edge, to inside, and sew to inside facing edge. Sew inside facing edge to seams."

I tried it out on scraps of fabric first, but each time I did what I thought the instructions were I ended up with a raw edge of fabric poking out from the seam.  In the end I did a usual facing finish. That also wasn't successful, as the instructions were to just baste both of the side pleats and when I was sewing the facing the basting on one of the pleats came undone.  I tried to refold it as I was sewing on the facing.  When I finished the facing and understitched it I found I'd folded the pleat the wrong way.  I decided I really couldn't live with it the wrong way and so had to unpick the facing and understitiching to refold it correctly.  

Next problem:  I was concerned the weight of the pleats would pull the facing through to the front, so I thought I would top stitch the neck.   Big mistake, when I had top stitched it  I hated the look of it, but unpicking it wasn't really an option as there would likely be visible holes from the needle.  So I ended up making some bias binding from left over fabric and putting that on.  For anyone looking at making it and worried about the weight of the pleats, I recommend just hand stitching the facing on the back at strategic points, I ended up doing this as well.

I wanted something a bit different and like the 'handkerchief' pieces at the side.  Though a bit worried about it being at the hips, emphasising the broadest part of my body, However if I wear with slim trousers it will look OK.  I also managed to make a mistake on these, my mistake entirely as I didn't read the instructions properly.  It said to hem the narrow ends and one long end.  I read it as one narrow end and one long end and so attached the unhemmed narrow end to the side seam of the top,  it should have been the unhemmed long end attached to the tops side seam, after folding the rectange in half, as per the tech drawing. Rather than unpicking it all I just folded in half, stitched a narrow end to the seam allowance and then stitched across the top.  A bit of a fudge, but only another sewer will notice and then they'll have to look closely.

This was made from faille from Spotlight I had 1.5m @ 148cm and cost $11.69.

Like my photo collages?  I just found this free software at Fotor.  So easy to use, expect to see more collages in future posts.