Summer of Dresses - Burda 102 Dress

Well parade goers, some days you're the windshield and some days you're the bug.  My number of wadders tends to be low because I muslin just about everything. That lets me work out fitting problems and weed out any styles that don't suit me.  However even experienced sewcialists sometimes make an error in pattern/fabric pairing and this next dress is a fine example of that.

I give you Burda 102 in a stretch cotton sateen.  So let me just say straight up that this is very nice fabric and would probably look swell as a pair of pants.  But as this dress....not so much

Sometimes I forget how unforgiving cotton can me in the wrinkle departments.  Argh just looking at these pictures makes me cringe just a bit.  I'll pinky swear that plenty of time of was spent fitting this bad boy but it doesn't really look it.

Pattern
Burda 102 from issue 8/2012 which is also available as a PDF download from Burdastyle.

Fabrics used
Amethyst Stretch Cotton from Gorgeous fabrics (Still in stock) It would make a beautiful pair of pants or a pencil skirt.

Pattern changes/alterations
1. This pattern goes up to size 42, I'm a 42 on top but 2 sizes bigger on the bottom.  To fix this I use the nested sizes to grade the bottom pieces up so that it fits me.  I'll do a little how to on this next week cause pics need to be taken.
2. The armholes on this pattern seemed really big. Since the bodice needed to be shortened anyway because of my short torso I folded out 3/4" length across the bodice in the middle of the armhole.

3. Usual 1/2" forward shoulder adjustment.
4. Since this was fancy type of sleeve I didn't want to do a standard forward adjustment on the sleeve head. The high of the sleeve cap needed to be reduced due to the bodice change, so I used that to also adjust for the forward shoulder.  Instead of folding out 3/4" evenly across the sleeve, I started with 3/4 at the back of the sleeve and increased it to 1 1/4" at the front of the sleeve.

5. Increased the upper back of the bodice 3/8" at the armhole edge.
6. Increased the dart intake on the back skirt an addition 3/8".  Also took in the bodice princess line seam in the same amount.

Confessions/Advice
1. This is a case where you have great fabric and a great pattern but they don't work that well together. I thought having a fabric with some body would be a good idea, but maybe this has too much body. Especially since I used it as a self lining for the bodice, which made it armor thick.  Merche Martinez made her version up in a stretch wool crepe which seems to suit the design much better.

2. The pattern says, for stretch wovens only. No kidding!  I can hardly get this on even though it is a stretch woven.

Husband Comment
"You're making Another dress? What's up with those sleeves?"

Did you say something about my sleeves? Don't make me stab you with my specialty stabbing shears. Love you big sleeves.

My Final Thoughts

I still like this pattern, so maybe I'll give this another go after the sting has passed. Gorgeous Fabrics has some poly stretch crepe that just might do the trick. I'm also happy to report that this dress completes my "Me Made May" inspired list.  Wow I made a list and followed through, don't even know who I am anymore.  A "responsible" blogger? Say it isn't so!