Monday, March 17, 2014

Flounce Instructions for Burda 7225



I made this asymmetrical,  one shoulder dress and wrote a post and review about it here


I put it together rather quickly in an attempt to enter it in a contest on sewing pattern review. Alas, I did not get it made in time (stupid 18 minutes late:P). I added a flounce to the neckline of the dress to reflect one I liked. When I made it, I drafted it part freehand, part with my French curve and in a hurry. Becasue of that, I did not explain how I did it in my previous post. In my review of the pattern, I had a request to explain my process in detail.

To be honest, what I did would not make sense to explain now, so I  remade the dress with a flounce that one could replicate.  





Front


Back
This flounce addition assumes you are using Burda 7225 and Mccalls 5579. I will not outline the steps in their pattern instructions here. This is a supplement to the Burda instructions. Here we go!
         
To begin, I followed the steps 1, 2 and 4 of the of the original Burda 7225 pattern.  I went back to step 3, installing the zipper, after I added the flounce do not do it now. Next, I pinned the dress to my dress form ; you can lay the dress on a flat surface if you do not have a form (do I need to suggest you make mine?).

I took a look in my pattern cabinet and found Mccalls 5579, a dress with a neckline flounce that can be modified for this dress.

                  M5972


I took pattern piece number 6 from the Mccalls 5972 and cut it to the largest size in my range which is 14. I then matched the wide end of flounce to the underarm zipper area and pinned it to the top of the dress across to the stitched shoulder seam. I folded the end over to mark the front length and took it to my fabric on the cutting table.


Fitting the flounce to the neckline.
I tucked the excess under and folded the narrow end back to the notch and placed it on the fold. This will open out to cover the front and back of the neckline. I made it slightly longer (about 1 inch) than needed to be sure I had enough to go around the neckline.

Cut the flounce on the fold

I cut the flounce and pinned it to the top of the dress beginning at the zipper seam. (I did not hem my flounce because of the the type of fabric this is. I made a narrow hem on the other dress. If you need to hem your fabric, do it before pinning). I continued pinning, adjusting the drape as I went along. I pinned it loosely so it maintaines the flow.

Pin flounce beginning at zipper. Pin wrong side of flounce to right side of dress.

Continue pinning flounce around back.
Baste flounce. I continued to step 3 and installed an [invisible] zipper on top of the flounce.



  I continued with steps 5 and 6 to add the facing.
Pin facing to top of flounce right sides together. Stitch

Trim facing to reduce bulk in the seam. Turn facing to inside and press.


Stitch facing to the body of the dress keeping the flounce free.
I stitched it the way you see in the photo above, but it is more efficient to do it with the facing up. When you do it, flip it over and keep the flounce free.

Facing stitched to the body of the dress with the flounce free.
The flounce is now done! I continued with the rest of the pattern instructions. I hope this is clear and you can now make your dress with the added flounce too. Feel free to ask if there is something that is not clear. Please pop back and let me know if you have made a dress too; I would love to see it.

P.S.
I enlarged the armsyce on this dress because it is too small. I cut the pattern this time instead of cutting the dress like I did last time. If you make this adjustment, remember to increase the length of the armhole facing you will use later.




That is all for now.

Happy Sewing!
Bianca





2 comments:

  1. This is great! Thanks so much for describing your sewing methods in detail. I want this dress-so cute. How do we get you out there more?? Your sewing, teaching and modeling are magazine worthy. No joke. And . . .this all shoulders, no hips gal would so benefit from a dress form in my own size and shape. I'm committed to make one of yours once I get my schedule cleared a bit. Thanks for inspiring.

    Hillary

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Hillary! You are welcome for the steps.

      I am fabulous and the world should know it. I need a parade! :P Seriously, I don't know how to get out there more. For now, I am happy to make great connections with people like you.

      I hope you love your form. Because time is an issue, I suggest you break it up into parts, casting one day, filling another day, and so on. Let me know if you have any questions as you go.

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