My First BurdaStyle Dress!

This is my first time making a BurdaStyle Magazine dress. I have seen many that I liked and would love to have, but I have never attempted it before. In all honesty, I don’t think I would have had the ability to do this even a few years ago. I’m not talking about sewing skill necessarily. I mean the knowledge to trace the pattern and get it right. And most important, the confidence to actually put it together and be confident all the way through the process. That’s important. If you start out not believing that you can complete a project, you won’t.

I used this lemon-on-navy stretch cotton that I bought from fabric.com (it’s no longer available but I can link something similar).

For my version (yes, it’s the same pattern as the first picture), I made a few changes. I: 1) raised the neckline, 2) added in-seam pockets, and 3) made it short sleeved. I was contemplating making a belt to go with it, but I like the comfort and ease of wearing it as is (it’s gathered at the waist). It gets really hot and humid where I live, so the last thing I want for summer is anything that is going to make me feel constricted.

In order to raise the neckline (about 3″), I redrew the front neckline which actually made the front wider than the back at the shoulder. I just gathered the front slightly to meet to back so the shoulder seams were even.

For the pockets, (I couldn’t believe the dress didn’t have them. Most BurdaStyle dresses seem to have pockets) I almost always use the same pattern piece. It’s a pocket from a pattern for pajamas. I retraced the piece and made it a little smaller so it would be more appropriate for this dress. Then I keep the new piece with the traced pattern pieces.

With making the dress short-sleeved, I just figured out where on my arm I wanted the sleeve to stop. I didn’t widen the sleeve or anything like that since it’s a loose enough sleeve. No other alterations for that were necessary.

As I said in the beginning, having the confidence to even start a project is important. But not doubting yourself during the process is also key. This is one of the few things (and the only one from BurdaStyle Magazine) where I did not make a muslin first! I’m so glad this turned out as well as it did and I’m very happy with the results.

As always, I encourage you to give your own project challenge a try. You might be surprised by how well things turn out!

Here is a link for a similar fabric from fabric.com. The one I used is no longer available. Click here

*affiliate links in post