Is this pink or red? Can I claim that it’s red so obviously not part of the pink avalanche?
I’d already made an altered Renfrew out of this fabric (which has shown up paired with other things from time to time), a very lightweight drapey poly jersey, with a nice big scrap left over–just enough to test out this top pattern before cutting into a rayon jersey I’d been hoarding for the perfect dress.
It’s not a quick jersey shirt, by any means–there’s lots of pleats and interlocking pieces–but it does work up nicely. My one quibble is that the shirt is very, very long. I have 11″ between my waist and full hips, and even so, I had to hem this by about 3″. If I make this again I’ll shorten the back at the waist. It’s tougher when it’s one piece, so I may just use the dress back pieces and shorten accordingly.
Otherwise it’s a great top. The pleated pieces across the waist mean it can’t really be tucked in, but they do snug the waist in nicely and add a nice detail.
And so of course I cut out the dress version in the rayon jersey which is–happily–Not Pink! And because it took me so long to take pictures, I was able to trace the new pieces, alter them, take a month to hem the dress, and wear it a few times, and I can still put them in the same post. Here it is:
The main difference is that the peplum is replaced by a skirt, however:
- Neckband is replaced by a higher neckline with a facing.
- They want you to put in a zipper; I ignored that. Having ignored it, I turned the back skirt piece into a single piece.
- The back piece is split and has a waistband seam for the dress version.
- The sleeves are shorter.
I really like this dress pattern. It’s too bad, given how cold and snowy it’s been this year, that I haven’t had more chances to wear it; but it’s rayon so I should be able to continue wearing it until short sleeves become necessary.
You can see there’s a lot less bunching and dragging in the dress version, which is really just because it has seams. If you normally do a swayback or short back adjustment on top patterns, you may want to use the back pieces for the dress on the top to make that easier.
Sizing Note
I should be a 40/44 in a Burda shirt, but as usual I traced up a size 38 for most of it, grading to a 42 in the hips, and doing an FBA across the bust. In this case, with all the pleat action, I cheated a bit: I traced a 38 for the neckline and shoulder height, extended the shoulder to a 44, traced the 44 armscye down to the bust, then graded from a 44 at the top to a 38 at the waist, making it quite a dart–but it worked out perfectly. I measured the tissue and it gave me just a smidge of negative ease across the bust, and thank goodness because this was much easier than the usual cut-pivot-and-tape of a standard FBA. In the back I also extended the shoulder to the 44 line, and then graded back to a 38 at the bottom of the armscye. I also straightened the curve between the waist and the back neckline because I always find a curved seam there gives me a lot of floof between the shoulder blades that I end up removing anyway.
Zoopolis 
I use your cheats method with Burda patterns, instead of an FBA, all the time. To avoid the excess across the back however, I shorten the lower back length as required, then fold out a side bust dart so that the side seams match in length. The side bust darts can then be transferred to wherever works on the pattern. In this case I would move it to the gathers under the bust.
I can see from the folds that you have excess length along the front side seams too, as well as the excess back length. This dart removes the side front excess and fixes the back. It is a sort of reverse engineered FBA which I find much quicker and easier.
Thanks, Karey. The shirt was just a test garment so I’m not too fussed about the back. One thing I have learned over the years is that I can never shorten the side waist length–I need extra length in the front due to FBAs, and anything that shortens the bodice at the side, no matter how I do it, hikes the waist up all around and I end up with a lot of waist tilt. There really is no excess length at the waist; the front ties sit exactly where they’re meant to. You can see more clearly in the dress photos, which use exactly the same pattern pieces at the front.
I love your not pink top and dress ( although there are some pnk flowers ? 🌸). I used to hate being flat but reading about your FBAs makes me grateful now. Burdas have had some great issues recently.
Burda’s had some fantastic issues lately, agreed. I’ll be busy sewing them up for probably the next year. 😉
Thank you! I’m wearing the dress today, which is a nice coincidence.
I love your recent dresses! They look so comfy and stylish. I wish blogger were better about letting me comment on blogspot sites directly.