Burda 9418 jumped out at me as being something I definitely needed to make for Clare.  Such a current tween style!

You can see more information on the Pattern Review website here. Burda paper patterns (in contrast to those published in their magazine) don’t appear to be on an easily navigated website of their own.

I sewed size 10 for Clare without any alterations. I am very glad that we chose to sew the version with the flounce underneath – this is super short even with it! Not a lot of bending forward allowed for! However I was sewing size 10 primarily for width for Clare – she is taller than the 10 would assume, so I’m not entirely surprised about the resulting length. She was quite happy with it as it was though!

The fabrics are both knits with a low percentage of stretch. The stripe is from Clear It. Clare insists that it is grey. I insist that it is blue. It’s a lovely quality fabric, and fortunately I still have some in stash. The acid yellow was in deep stash. I think that they mix together quite nicely! This pattern is perfect for playing with colour blocking.

I can’t remember if I finished the neckline and armholes according to the pattern or not. I used strips of the fabric like facings, stitched them right sides together, then turned them to the inside and secured from the right side with a twin needle. This worked quite well, even with the more extreme curve the back armholes. I used thread that matched the acid yellow solid, and it showed up nicely on the stripe.

The flounce edge was left raw, but the straight hem edge above it was turned once and twin needle hemmed after securing with Vliesofix tape. I think it’s a really cute style. It could easily be lengthened a little both through the body and through the lower hem band if desired – you’d want to watch proportions so I think it would be best with any lengthening split between both. It could also be made with just the flounce at the bottom without the hem band. There are quite a few options with this pattern!

Looking at photos of finished garments on Clare I can already see some fitting adjustments that suspect I’ll have to make as she grows and matures.  A sway back alteration for one!  I’m not going to put too much time into those alterations at this stage, especially given that these clothes will all be passed down to her younger sister Stella, but they are worth noting.  I’m sure that others will appear over time.  She has a very similar shape to mine at the same age (yes, I was once that slim too) so I’ll be interested to see what it changes to as she gets older.