Here come the Flamingos!

Finally, after hording this fabric for 6 month in my stash, I decided it is time to use it. It is not really the season for Flamingos now :) but I felt ready to tackle such a thin jersey.

Sorry for the wrinkles!

Pattern: Burda 0010 from Burda Style Special autumn/winter No5/2013. As I had used the pattern before to make my Burda raglan top, there was no need to trace the pattern - win. The dress has a keyhole opening at the back and a turtleneck!


Fabric: A thin jersey which I got from Goldhawk Road at the summers blogger meet-up. Several people bought the fabric and since then, I have seen some gorgeous projects popping up (Naturally, when trying to find them again, I couldn't). But somehow I was unlucky with my fabric, as one half of it was off grain. The flamingos were walking up :( But I managed to lay out my pattern on the half with the straight grain, yeah! (Anybody else ever had the problem?) Except for the turtleneck, which I had to cut out 4 times!

Turtleneck and Pleats.

Construction: Again I had problems with the shoulder pleats, but I think they are a bit better than last time. Otherwise, the dress came quite easily together up to the point where you have to attach the (naughty) turtleneck. I just couldn't get my head around the pattern notes and sewed the wrong seam twice. Then there was only one seam left, I hadn't sewn yet, which turned out to be the one meant. You actually have to sew a cylinder (with keyhole opening) before attaching it to the neckline and I somehow didn't expect that. Then there was a lot of hand stitching involved. Which kept me wondering, if there is a special stretchy handstitch? Because you stitch the turtleneck to the neckline on the inside and when you try to squeeze your head through, it will stretch! I couldn't find anything on the web, so just kept stitching little zigzags. And it stretches fine :) I also attached two buttons and loops to keep the keyhole opening closed.

You can just see the black button loops.

 Have I worn it yet? Yes, when going for some fabric shopping and tea with a friend. I still have to stabilize the shoulder seams with some cotton tape to prevent them from stretching. I just had to get some advice first, about how to do it :) Looking at the pictures now, I somehow think this blue is not a color that should go closely to my pale face, puh. I look a bit like a ninja in a pink flamingo dress :P

More detail pleats :)

 Will I make it again? Probably not, as there are more jersey patterns out there that I want to try! Lady skater dress, here I come!

At least the flamingos are straight :)