Sewn: Burda 5/2020 #109 Tiered Dress

There were some fabulous patterns in Burda 5/2020. See here for the Sleeveless Top that I made earlier this year. I loved the look of this tiered dress (especially in the sport luxe shoot).

The sleeves are slit and shaped into the bodice, and the skirt is a multi-layered high-low hem. The pattern calls for fabric with drape so I went with an emerald green crepe, which has actually worked pretty well. Fabric was purchased from PoundaMetre at £1.99 a metre.

This pattern is in tall sizes, and my size maps out to between 76 (bust & hips) and 80 (waist). I am only (just) 5’2” but I wanted a long dress and I always think my torso is long for a short person.

Before hemming

Grading from a 76 to 80 between bust and waist was much trickier than it seemed. I had to redraft the side curves three times to fit. When attaching the hip yoke to the top, I had 8 cm more in the yoke than I should have. It seemed an impossible feat to make it match but I did.

My other issue was in attaching the skirt to the yoke, at the point in which you add the lining yoke, which I managed to do inside out. Having unpicked and reattached, I then set about painstakingly finishing the lining piece by hand. The result seems worth it.

My one regret is not having an exact thread colour match, but lockdown has made it difficult to get out and sometimes you just have to do what you have to do!! All my seams have been through the overlocker and I am pleased with the results. 

So the finished dress was lovely but I felt as though it highlighted my problem tummy area. My sister suggested a navy belt, which I hurriedly sewed up from the leftover a John Kaldor fabric from this dress. I will re-do this in plain navy at some point, but I needed something in a hurry because I wanted to wear it at our belated 25th wedding anniversary dinner. 

Smoked fish starter

We stayed at Plantation House Hotel, Ermington, Devon which was a lovely luxury hideaway. The food was exquisite...let me leave you with a taste!

Chocolate and rum torte

Love Mrs Jones x