The first time that I made Burda 6988 I was pretty much thrilled with the result, and was inspired to use it again to make a fitted sheath dress.  Which I did.  This is the pattern description (courtesy of Pattern Review’s website):  Either narrowly cut or with bell-shaped skirt ending at the hip bone: the appeal of these charming jersey dresses with flat bateau neck lies in their unobtrusive cut. Slightly fitted to the waist by sophisticated, curved darts. Recommended fabrics: Jersey

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I had been looking at this stretch lace bonded to ponte fabric at Darn Cheap Fabrics for some time. I was drawn to it every time that I went in, even though another part of my brain loudly shouted “you’ve got to be kidding”. Then there was a length of it in the remnant bin and that was it. I jumped. And cut out the straight dress version of the pattern.

When I tried this on at Sewjourn – late at night, without accessorising or lipstick – it was an absolute fail. I was clearly channeling the 80s but not in a good way. But when I put it on again at home with stocking and shoes and a serious control slip underneath, I changed my mind. And would you believe it, my husband likes it! But, back to the post title – this was definitely another example of how important it is to get the fabric and pattern choice aligned, and how much difference the fabric type makes to the eventual fit of the dress.

The first time I made the dress I used a ponte knit, and this is also a ponte. But – isn’t there always a but – it is a little thicker and a little firmer. So even though the dress is cut in exactly the same size as last time, with the same petite alterations throughout, the bodice is much, much firmer on me. I can wriggle into it, and it feel okay when I am wearing it, but it sticks to the bulges much more than it skims them. I did all the hems with once in wide Vliesofix tape, and simply ironed them into place without stitching! Oh my – isn’t that cheating? But I didn’t want a visible line of stitching over the fabric, and it wasn’t worth hand-stitching for something I wasn’t even sure that I liked. The Vliesofix holds it is place firmly, and if I decided that I do like the dress I’ll secure it properly.

So in the end, this dress isn’t too bad. It’s a departure from my usual style, both in terms of fabric and silhouette, but I’ll give it a go. I always knew that it was going to be an experiment! I will wear it with a coloured jacket and accessories, to break up all that white on black lace. And I definitely haven’t finished with that Burda pattern yet.

And the other Sewjourners had a ball with the scraps, that quickly became incorporated into Mabel skirts. Ah, the Mabel – I must write up a blog post soon about the Mabels that I have made. I’m trying to get blog posts up to date – or at least written to auto-post – before we leave for our holiday soon.