4: Burdastyle 09/2015 hooded cowl neck dress or top - my trials

Well what can I say? This was the most frustrating thing I have made in ages!
Now it actually looks reasonable despite my having hacked it appart several times and resewn. Also I do mean hacked appart. I started off quite normally using a seam ripper but I had overlocked it and it was not at all right. I sewed the back on inside out, I didn't join the hood together so ended up with a huge "collar". You name it I did it. Then because I actually cut it all appart  (several times!) none of the pattern pieces are actually the right shape or size to what they should be.

I tried to sew with my Janome sewing machine and it ate the fabric so then I reverted back to the overlocker. I then changed to my older Brother PX100 sewing machine in frustration with the overlocker which I broke a needle on, but then that jammed up too. Finally when I got it together in a similar way to what it should be ( I think) the sleeeve did not fit right so I again overlocked that to take it in. I think perhaps this problem though is the shoulder seam not the sleeve. And if I wear the collar/hood/cowl over the left hand side a bit you cannot see my dodgy sleeve! I have given up trying to alter it. Considering all this it is very forgiving and is actually wearable. Though I have not hemmed it at all and ended up just overlocking all edges. To be honest by the time I finally made something vaguely "normal" I had had enough and just wanted to wear it. I may do a proper hem later. Although I love the flowing sleeves. I suspect a hem will make them a bit less flowing.

The fabric was bought off Ebay from Weston Fabrics in the UK. Its some kind of synthetic mix I think. Possibly it is a bit heavy weight for the hood since you end up with two layers, but it will be a warm addition to my Autumn/Fall wardrobe this year and probably my Spring wardrobe too.

Unfortunately my desire to do everything properly and let the fabric sit to relax overnight in order to try to be a good seamstress all got scuppered right at the start when my first pattern piece had to hang over the table since my table was not big enough to accomodate it. I also do not really have much free floor space since it is a small house I live in and my two dogs have a habit of walking on my pattern pieces whenever I have tried to use the floor so the table was my best bet. At least that way I do not get holes in my pattern from the paws and also avoid most of teh dog hair that they deposit as and when! Ah well! I ended up cutting it out immediately since leaving it overnight would probably have made it stretch more out of shape than having it folded had already done. The end result is actually not so bad anyway.


In the end its a kind of wearable musin I suppose since I now intend to make a second version which hopefully will be  more like the original pattern. I have worn this out and about and it is a very comfortable dress. In fact I truly love the design. Anyway it is based on this dress pattern from Burda Magazine 09/2015:

http://www.burdastyle.com/pattern_store/patterns/hooded-cowl-neck-dress-092015

I did eventually end up with something very similar to what it is meant to look like but that was after probably taking it appart, cutting it appart and feeling like binning the offending thing before I got there.








And heres the rest of the photos:

Because of my problems with this dress I am now making a second one and I intend to attempt a tutorial for anyone else out there who has similar problems with this pattern. Hopefully the second version will be perfect, so here goes with my tutorial over the next few posts. I hope it may help somone else who gets frustrated with this pattern.

Apologies if there are already any bloggers out there who have already covered a tutorial for this dress. Now onward to my second attempt. Does it count as a seperate garment if you make two from the same pattern? Or would it be cheating if several of my 100 garments were similar? Ah well for now I think it will count but maybe when I get to 100 garments then I might make make it uncount so then I can sew some more. Right this minute 100 is seeming like a great deal of sewing. But I already have two more items cut out! And neither is this pattern so it is still going to happen I think!!!
Thanks for reading and hope to see you again soon
Bracken