This was an impulse sew.  I stumbled across Burda 10/2014 #144 on a sewing forum somewhere, and immediately thought of some scraps in my stash that were idling in my stash.

Burda describe this as follows: Girl’s dress sewing pattern available for download. Available in various sizes and is produced by burda style magazine. The perfect dress for school because it’s as comfortable as it is cute. This sweater dress is made with cool contrasting panels and leather accents. An easy project with a little edge. Recommended Materials: Knits or jersey. Combine with imitation leather.

Clare just fitted into the size range. The pattern started at size 140cm (they are sized by height). This pattern was originally published in the October 2014 issue of Burda magazine, but I bought the pdf via their website. If you do download one of their pattern remember that they don’t include seam allowances – make sure that you add them!

I combined striped fabric from the Darn Cheap Fabrics $2 table (previously used for a Finlayson Sweater for my husband and for a shrug for me) with some grey ponte scraps and dark red (is it Marsala?) pleather. Clare thinks it hilarious that there is a fabric called pleather. I think that the pleather came from a fabric free-for-all at a sewing get-together I attended a while ago. I decided not to include the back zip, or to use a band to finish the neckline. Instead I used a strip of fabric sewn to the right side then turned over to the wrong side and secured, a bit like a facing.

This was a fun garment to sew. I used the overlocker for most of it, but did hems with a zig zag stitch on the machine. The pleather wasn’t too difficult to work with. Let’s see how it washes! The same pattern pieces can be used to make dress #145 from the same issue in a woven fabric. I might give it a go at some stage too. A great tween pattern, and Clare definitely approves.  I think I’d like a grown up version.