Burda WOF 05-2008-101

I know Burda changed its name but it's still Burda WOF to me. Thus I sewed Burda WOF 05-2008-101:

Oh goodness. Terrible photo. It's actually the best I have, for now. Had to photograph quickly while my husband was loading the car, with the engine running to warm it up, before we left my parent's house for our long drive back to Chicago. I forgot until last second that I took pieces to photograph because my camera was so rudely stolen.

Of course the front doesn't collapse all concave as in the photo; it actually blouses just as dramatically in the other direction over the chest. A little too much, as other reviewers on PatternReview have commented. And the pocket flaps do lie nice and flat when wearing this, and the buttons don't fall over like in the photo. If they did, believe me, I wouldn't photograph and share this! All bad photo apologies out of the way, let's get down to review business:

Review at PatternReview.com

Pattern Description

Long-sleeve jacket with peplum and center front zipper.

Pattern Sizing

Size 36-44 included in the magazine.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?

Yes, except I skipped a few details discussed below.

Were the instructions easy to follow?
I didn't pay much attention to them. I skipped details like interfacing, zipper and sleeve tab, so I just followed instincts to assemble the jacket in the right order.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I discovered the same issue other reviewers did -- the jacket is a little blousy to be flattering. I knew this before sewing it, but I still made it because I liked its details and I like the peplum. I added a third set of darts at the neckline to try to tame some strange droopy-drapiness there. As other reviewers did, I topstitched the visible darts to add a bit more detailing.

Fabric used:
The fabric is a viscose blend with metallic bronze finish from EmmaOneSock. It has a slightly faux leathery look to it too. There's a bunch left to make something else. I was originally planning to make a fantastic metallic trenchcoat and wish I had enough fabric left to make one. Someone please make a trench with this! But I wanted a dressy jacket to wear over a dress for an evening event back in October, and this is the fabric that was right to wear. This project started with the fabric. But nothing among my jacket patterns clicked. So I flipped through 5 years of Burda WOFs and this pattern clicked immediately.

To go with the fabric, I made a bracelet exactly like the bracelet below from Sundance catalog to wear with the jacket:

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
I skipped several details: interfacing, the zipper and the sleeve tabs. I also topstitched the darts.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
Yes, because this version is dressy and few will see it, I plan to sew it again with a tweedy navy wool to wear to the office.

More photos:
Here's the back, a bit wrinkled from wear. As you can see, I skipped the sleeve tabs:

Here is pocket detailing, of course with wonky seams because this jacket didn't want to cooperate for nice photos. I don't see wavy seams in real life. Or do photos show us things we can't otherwise see? Um, I shudder at the thought. I actually had these buttons in my stash and they matched this fabric well. They also help to keep the faux pocket flaps secured to the peplum, otherwise the flaps would flop around a bit.

Hong kong seam detail. The reverse side of this fabric is nice and contrasts well with the metallic outer side, so I wanted it to be visible and not hidden by lining.

Parting shot:

We lost a sewing assistant for a long while on Christmas Eve. We couldn't find him anywhere. I thought he got lost in the bowels of the basement of my parent's house again. He loves it down there. He didn't even come when called. (Believe it or not, both my cats usually do. They love me.) Finally I looked hard under the Christmas tree. I had looked there before, but he kind of blended in under there! This is what he does in my gardens too. He tucks himself under big hostas and watches the world from there. I am thankful both cats were very gentle with my parent's Christmas tree and all its breakable ornaments.

Sewing Burda WOF 05-2008-101

It always starts with the fabric. In this case, a metallic coppery-bronze viscose blend from EmmaOneSock. This fabric was a treasure to sew! Substantial & didn't ravel much. I needed a jacket to wear over a dress at an event. I had bronze sandals and a bronze evening bag and this fabric looks good with them. Final decision was, what pattern? I flipped through 5 years of BWOF's and one pattern out of all popped -- #101 in May 2008.

I liked its slightly downtown feel with rivets and zipper. I thought the shape and style would contrast nicely with a black silk dress, and with the metallic fabric.

Other criteria: I was short on time and these lines could be quickly sewn. The peplum and exposed darts would give easy-to-sew shaping without fiddling too long for fit. I was looking for a collar-less jacket because it takes me a lot of time to sew collars.

Several reviews are on PatternReview.com -- search "05-2008-101" in Patterns.

Here's what I could add:

I didn't look at directions at all. But construction might have been more efficient if I had. It still went together nicely -- isn't it amazing how even when adding seam allowances, precise curves of BWOF pieces line up and fit together perfectly.

Edges are finished with hong kong seams. I did not install a zipper because I was running out of time. I will install one later. It feels dressier without a zipper, but I like the idea of the metal teeth giving an edge to the dressy fabric. On the faux pocket flaps, I used buttons instead of snaps.

Like others who posted reviews on PR.com, I was surprised with the blousiness. I added a third dart in the neckline to tame the blousiness, and like another reviewer, I stitched the darts down, up to 2". Although I usually need an FBA, the blousiness made the jacket fit fine without one. The sleeves were a bit tight in the upper arm, so I did an upper arm adjustment.

I'm petite 5'0" and the peplum sits a little low. I'll make this again and will definitely raise the peplum seam a bit.

Sewing Project: Plaid Shirtdress

Today's theme is "second guessing."

I had settled on Burda 7658. It will require redrafting the shoulder and adding a short sleeve. But here's Vogue 8028, complete with sleeve and, because I'm sewing with plaid, the necessary shaping through darts, not princess seams:

And of course there's the stash of 5 years of Burda World of Fashion patterns, which I've used to sew a grand total of "zero" wearable items, but many UFOs and some wadders. It's beyond time to make that investment worth its while. Mostly, I under-utilize Burda WOF because it's inconvenient to flip through all the magazines versus frantically rifling through my pattern drawers and throwing envelopes all over the place. I feel like I got a lot accomplished when I see envelopes spread all over the floor, like giant confetti. It looks like I'm really working. Really getting things done. I can stand there with hands on hips, pondering, thinking, liking, disliking, changing my mind ... moving fabrics around and pairing them with envelopes, like a huge storyboard spread all over the basement floor. Can't do that with the teensy-weensy Burda WOF line drawings.

Rather than making a mess that looks like a 3-year-old who sews lives here, I was inspired during today's blog readings by Cidell, who photocopied her Burda WOF line drawings and organized them in a binder. Always meant to do this, never have. It's time to do this!

Today's Visual Wardrobe Obsession

I love-love-love these shoes at 6pm.com that Gigi wrote about in Behind the Seams. So, ordered them.


They have the strong style I prefer. Never got into the kitten heel trend, for example.

Hope they look good with this Armani linen fabric that I recently ordered from EOS:

*photo from EmmaOneSock site.

The linen plaid will likely be made into a shirtdress a la Vogue 8383:

Earlier yesterday I took a break from opening 2 weeks of vacation hold mail to peruse Burda WOF 5/09, which is full of plaids! Time to jump on the plaid bandwagon. While I wore flowery fabrics on vacation, I do prefer prints and styles that are more, um, masculine, I suppose.

And speaking of Burda WOF 5/09 -- got a sneak preview because I found it at a Frankfurt airport bookstore! This version is very different -- it's perfect-bound and reads more like a typical magazine (if I could read it in German, ha) with feature stories about thread, notion storage, undergarments, lipstick, and ... more accessory trend pages than the English version. It has a feature story showing some ideas from BurdaStyle.com. In addition to the plaid wide-brim hat in the English Burda WOF, it shows how to add strips of fabric to change the look of espadrilles. You can find directions in English at Burda WOF website to make these:

I also got a deja vu repeat view of Burda WOF 4/09 -- found a Turkish version in the Istanbul airport bookstore. My brain would explode if Burda WOF were ever in a U.S. airport bookstore! Surely that would be a sign of the end of the world as we know it. I've been through the Tokyo airport several times but don't remember Mrs. Stylebook or other pattern books like that there -- then again, I wasn't aware of the Japanese patterns at that time.

Anyway, the Turkish version has advertisements, and a few extra goodies like a small handbag made from a sequin-encrusted elephant applique cut from a vest. As I was passing through on the way to India, this was a great idea for using remnants of heavily embroidered ethnic fabrics in India. The Turkish version also shows how to make your own thong shoes, and how to cover an old hat with ribbon and fabric for a new look. This may all be on BurdaStyle.com too. Haven't looked.

Also found in Istanbul, a smaller trend issue:

Thankfully the pattern pieces have English on them! Will post pics of some pages later.

Googling "Burda Pratik Dikis" pulls up blogs of some very talented seamstresses (sewists, sewers, whatever) in Turkey -- a fun Internet trip!