Burda WOF 5/09, Dress 117 - Michael Kors look alike

I really loved this Michael Kors dress when it was featured in numerous fashion magazines last fall.

But I couldn’t fine a similar pattern in my stash and I really couldn’t find any similar fabrics. Large abstract floral prints in intense colors. Then the May 09 Burda WOF magazine arrived with a very similar pattern, dress 117B. The dress is described as having cap sleeves, draped front bodice, and a fitted skirt with side slits for walking ease.




and I found the perfect fabric, a gray and orange floral print cotton sateen from Denver Fabrics/FashionFabricClub. Here is my version of the dress and I love it. The colors in the fabric make me feel happy just looking at them. The cotton sateen fabric was easy to sew and press, but it doesn’t wrinkle. I lined the skirt of the dress but not the top, so it is very cool to wear, despite the hot colors of the print.


This dress has a unique inset side panel that can be a challenge to sew. I needed a refresher on how to sew this type of panel so I thought I would share my research in case it would be helpful to others.

Kimono Sleeves and Gussets

The sleeve on this dress is a kimono sleeve. A kimono sleeve is actually an extension of the bodice or body of the main garment. It is frequently cut as one piece with the garment, producing a T-shape bodice.



Because a kimono sleeve has been cut with the bodice, the fit is very different from that of a set-in sleeve. The shape and width of the sleeve will determine its comfort. If the sleeve is narrow and slopes close to the body, a gusset (diamond shaped fabric insert) may be used in the underarm area to reduce strain and allow freedom of movement. A gusset is a triangular or diamond-shaped piece of fabric, which is set into a garment at a slashed location. It makes a longer, slimmer-fitting kimono sleeve possible with an armhole fitting clos­er to the body.



As a general rule, the gusset provides a more sophisticated fit than a fitted kimono sleeve without a gusset. Comfort is an additional feature since there is increased flexibility in the sleeve and armhole area. Regardless of the kimono sleeve fit, some form of seam reinforcement is recommended.

The gusset for this pattern is cut as part of front and back side panels. Instructions for inserting gussets can be found in many sewing books. But there are very few sewing books that show the side panel “gusset” insertion. Burda WOF’s written sewing instructions on this part of the dress were a little sketchy, and difficult to understand. And I always prefer pictures to text. I had made this style in a jacket and I remembered that reinforcing the internal slash point is important, as is careful sewing.

To refresh my memory I got out the pattern for the jacket, Vogue 2390. It is about 8 years old, but still available in the Out of Print patterns on the Vogue pattern web site.



I also found two other sources for instructions especially for this style. One was a special tip insert with pictures for a jacket in BWOF 2/98 Burda Tip sheet . It was pretty similar to the Vogue pattern instructions. The second was the Mrs. Stylebook (MSB), issue 145 (2007) MSB Instructions , which had a slight different method with much better pictures. Below you will find both the written instructions from Vogue/Burda and the MSB illustrations with English text that I added.

Vogue/Burda Instructions:

Important: When cutting out the fabric pieces, leave the area of the slash uncut until after the seams line are marked and the slash is reinforced.



The first step is to reinforce the point of the slash on the front and back pieces where the gusset/side panel will be inserted. There are generally two different techniques shown for reinforcing. The Vogue/Burda method uses iron on interfacing.

1. Iron a small piece of interfacing onto the wrong side of fabric front and back pieces, over point of slash.
2. Pin pattern onto back and front fabric pieces again, and transfer the pattern piece outline (seam line) on to the interfaced side of fabric.
3. Reinforce slash by stay stitching slightly to inside of marked stitching line (shorten stitches around the point).
4. Start at wide end, stitch up one side to point, pivot, take one stitch across point, pivot again stitch down other side.

5. Slash between stitching lines up to reinforced point. S

6. Stitch side panel to front and back piece starting at bottom edge and sewing towards slash point, along marked seam lines. Pivot at slash point and sew side panel underarm seam to sleeve underarm seam ending 1/4 “ before the side seam.


7. Stitch side seams and sleeve bottom seam.


MSB Instructions

Final note: If you like this dress style, but don’t have access to Burda WOF, you are in luck. Just out is Vogue Pattern’s version of this dress, published under the Michael Kors name. Pattern number 1117. It is in the Fall 2009 issue of Vogue Pattern Magazine, which I received yesterday. As I write this, it is not yet up on the Vogue website. Typically the new patterns show up there about a week after I get the magazine. The Vogue pattern has the same side panel gusset styling too.

Vogue 1099 Badgley Mischka jacket

I am easily distracted from sewing projects, especially when they are in the planning stage, and the pattern and fabric for another project is sitting at hand. The shirt dress mentioned in the previous post is still a project. But one night I had an hour or so before I had to shuttle a bunch of teenage boys to the movies. So I took advantage of the time to cut out the jacket from the Badgley Mischka Vogue Pattern 1099.

It is a swing jacket with some interesting sleeve and collar details. The sleeves have a horizontal pleat over a separate gathered section in the bottom half of the sleeves. This makes the sleeve quite bell like.
The shoulder seam extends into the sleeve as a dart. The sleeve fits into the armhole with some inset corners.

The collar has two separate layers. Both are rectangles cut on the bias, folded lengthwise with the cut edges eased into the curved neck seam. The outer collar is longer than the neck hole seam by an inch or so and the inner collar, cut of a contrast fabric, is actually longer than the outer collar. So while both collar pieces was easy to fit onto the neck hole seam because of the bias cut, they do not lay flat. Especially the inner collar being longer and more eased onto the seam. The end of the collar has a pleat and the under collar appears to wrap around the end and go into the upper collar. I have seen the open end collar detail on a number of designer tops and the Japanese pattern magazines.

For the fabric I used a blouse weight linen from Hancock Fabrics. It has variegated threads and a subtle metallic coating of some sort on the good side. I half expect the coating to wash off in the laundry, but it was still there when I pulled the fabric from the dryer. The fabric was easy to work with and hangs softly. Other reviewers recommended using soft rather than stiff fabric for this jacket. The lining is Bemberg rayon. The under collar is some sort of sheer green metallic mystery fabric from ‘the table" in Walmart. It looks and acts like a metallic silk organza. It can be ironed on high heat with no ill effects, other than smelling like my husband’s workshop when he is sawing fiberboard (lots of adhesives in fiberboard (MDF)) so I suspect it is a synthetic. It feels fine against my skin.

The pattern envelope picture shows the jacket worn with very wide leg pants. For my size, the pants on the pattern have a bottom leg width of 32 inches. I tried the jacket with a pair of RTW pants that have a 30 width. The silhouette is sort of a tall triangle. I also tried the jacket with a pair of slimmer cut cropped pants and high heeled sandals. I think I like the second look better than the first, but it is a more casual look, not suited for work.

Shirtdresses for Spring

After two weeks of no sewing, I wanted to make something fast, and easy. So I made view D, the sleeveless version of McCalls 5661 blouse. using 1 yard of a 60 wide poly print from the G Street $2.99 table. I loved the print of circles in brown, beige, teal and citron green. If it had been in silk or even cotton I would have had been in fabric heaven, but it was in shiny finish polyester. Oh well. I eliminated the back opening with the plan to use an invisible zipper in the side seam if I had needed it. It slips on over my head easily. I have been thinking a lot about sewing dresses lately. I don’t know why. It doesn't seem like women wear dresses that much anymore. At least not the ones I work and play with. But dresses make summer dressing a snap, especially shirtdresses in comfortable breathable fabrics. I am currently enamoured with this one, which is from the Newport News catalog. For some reason I really like the simplicity of a simple shirtdress in a solid khaki colored fabric, embellished with self fabric roses.


The price was actually pretty reasonable, but they only had it in one very small size. It must be a popular item. The "roses" look more free form than ones for which I have instructions. So I am currently collecting information on making fabric roses from internet sources and books. I have found some interesting techniques that I had not seen before. I have a lightweight twill blend fabric that I am considering using. It is cross woven tan and black so it has a slight iridescence when it moves or changes direction.I thought that effect might be interesting when made into the roses.
I'll keep you updated.

Blog Diary - Grand Finale

I finally named my SWAP, which I have been blogging about since December, The Drafting Demon Swap. By the time I submitted the pictures for the contest voting I was so tired of every aspect of it; the garments, the fabrics, the colors, pattern drafting, etc. I felt that all the other SWAPs were fresher, more coordinated and better executed than mine. I had to prepare and sew samples for a ASG presentation the same week the photography had to be done. I was a bit stressed. In fact I seriously considered bowing out of the contest at that point, and not sending in photos. So I was totally shocked that it won the Grand Prize in the SWAP contest sponsored by Stitchers Guild the sewing discussion board over at www.Artisanssquare.com.



Pictures of all the SWAPs, every single one of them a winner, can be viewed at
2009 Swap Photos

I just want to say a very heartfelt "Thank-You" to everyone whose vote contributed to my receiving this wonderful award. And for all the hard work the Stitchers
Guild folks did in planning and running the contest. I know it took an enormous amount of time. And thanks to the very generous sponsors who made it possible for every one of the contest participants to receive a prize.

Now on to spring/summer sewing

SWAP Diary April 30th, 2009 Done!

Yikes, it has been almost a month since I last posted! April has flown by.

We had a lovely vacation in Barbados, We rented this house, complete with pool and a car, in Holetown. It was a block from the beach. My husband found it while doing Internet searches for rental villas. It had rave reviews from previous renters and they were accurate.

It was a lovely base to explore the island. The beaches are very different depending on what side of the island they are on. My sons preferred the waves of this Atlantic side beach, to the tranquil scenic and tourist populated Caribbean Sea beaches.

We were the only people at this beach and the waves were quite strong. I sat on the sand admiring the view and at the same time praying I did not have to use my rusty lifesaving skills.

We toured caves, watched monkeys swinging through the trees, went sailing, swam with enormous sea turtles, and ate a lot of fresh fish. We ate in a couple of nights and I cooked some of the unfamiliar fruits and vegetables, like christophenes, and breadfruit ,we found in the local grocery store. I downloaded recipes off the Internet (the rental house had a computer with high speed access). I especially enjoyed that.

Barbados is one of few Caribbean islands, of the 17 or so I have visited, that has fabric stores. I had hoped to visit the stores and write about my visit. Unfortunately with the limited time, and being the only vote for "fabric shopping", I wasn’t able to visit any of them.

I returned from the beautiful tropical weather, and the bright colors of the houses and flowers, to the task of finishing up the jacket for my SWAP. A jacket made of brown wool. It was a bit of a chore. I so wanted to be sewing summer clothes in bright colors and light fabrics. But I got it done. The instructions are in the Dec 08 issues of Lady Boutique magazine.

.The jacket style is a slight variation of the jacket wearable muslin I made earlier. The same collar, which goes with the tops beautifully, but more fitted, with a piped sewn on belt. I also added piping to the front edge. I originally made the piping out of a weathered leather look vinyl, but the belt with the vinyl piping proved to be so heavy, it affected the hang of the jacket. I made more piping of brown silk dupiani. It worked much better. The jacket fits fine and coordinates with all the other garments in my SWAP. Now I have to take pictures. The clothes in my SWAP are winter clothes. Last weekend, which would have been a great time to take pictures, the temperatures were in the low 90’s. I have a tentative agreement to pay my teenage sons to take photos of me wearing the garments in locations or doing activities where I would wear them in a typical week. But I didn’t want be red faced and "hot and bothered" in the outside pictures. So I pushed my luck and put off the photography sessions, hoping for some cooler days before the submission deadline. Looks like my luck is good, as it is in the 60's today. I hope the cooler weather will continue tomorrow, which I have off for the company "Derby Day" holiday. A tradition left over from the time the company I work for had a plant in Louisville, Kentucky. Rather than deal will high absenteeism, and on the job intoxication the Friday before the Kentucky Derby race, they closed the whole plant. The Louisville plant is long gone, but hurray for traditions!

SWAP Diary April 3rd

I finally finished the next item in my SWAP. A pair of brown denim jeans. In preparation for drafting a jeans pattern, I did a lot of reading and research which included the following;

1. Measured favorite well fitting jeans.

2. Studied the instructions for drafting jeans in various pattern drafting sources to see how patterns are drafted for different shapes. These included;
Weekend Designer Jean Draft
Metric Pattern Drafting for women’s wear, by Winifred Aldrich.


3. Took my own personal hip and waist circumference measurements in front and back segments, not just full circumferences. Anna Zapp describes this in her book “The Zapp Method of Couture Sewing” and sewing instructor Cynthia Guffey also demos this in her pants fitting classes. But Cynthia advocates takes measurements every two inches from waist to hip. From this I learned I need more fabric in the front at 2 inches below my waist for my tummy, and then back equals front until 8 inches down from waist when the back need more fabric because of my butt. This is shown below on a dress form. Put a piece of tape on both sides from waist to hip. Mark 2 inch increments.on the tape starting at waist. Measure from centerline of tape on one side to centerline of tape on the other side, on both back and front at each 2 inch increment.

4. Turned a few pairs of well fitted RTW pants inside out, with one leg inside the other, so I could look at the shape of the crotch seam as well as the amount of space between the center back and front seams.

5. Re-read Threads magazine articles "Making Jeans that Fit" (Mar 2004) and" Design Your Own Jeans" (May 2008), The lengthy answer to a Fitting column question about crotch length in the March issue was very helpful too.

I made a muslin of the pattern out of a red and tan checked fabric so I would have woven vertical and horizontal lines in my muslin. They looked like clown pants. During one fitting session, DH happened to see them and asked diplomatically "Where are you going to wear those pants? I assured him they were not going to be worn in public. My personal shape is a low flat butt, high rounded tummy, and no leg curvature below the widest part of hip. Many RTW pants, and especially McCalls and Butterick patterns, which fit in the waist, have too much fabric in the butt and outer thigh. Sure enough the muslin had excess fabric in the outer thighs, and at the top back center seam. There were issues in the crotch area and I ended up adding 3/4 inch to the front and back crotch length at the crotch point. On all the LB pants pattern drafts, the center line of the pant leg is equal distance from the crotch point and the side, and it is used as a reference for all dart and styling detail. So I also had to re balance the leg patterns around the new center line and redraw the darts and pockets. I really need to draft only the basic shape and fit it, before drafting style details. It would save me a lot of time and effort.

The finished jeans fit okay. I think they need some tweaking; scoop out the front crotch to address the wrinkles there and remove even more excess fabric in the back side legs. They are a little long in the crotch, but I can’t change that easily with all the top stitched yokes near the waist. I may slim down the legs even more.


But all this will have to wait for a couple weeks, until after we return from our spring break trip to Barbados. Right now, I need to find out if my bathing suits still fit, check the expiration date on the sun block lotions left over from last year, sort through the snorkeling gear,…….later guys!

SWAP Diary Mar 10 2009

Awards and Recommendations



I have been nominated for the Sisterhood Award, first by Linda and also by Kim. Thanks so much, ladies! I want to take some time to nominate some deserving folks who haven't received the award yet and that will take more time than I have right now. Look for them in the future.

I also need to thank Elizabeth J., a reader of the Australian sewing magazine Stitches who wrote to the magazine and recommended my blog as well as those of Tany, Shannon and Gretchen. We were all included in the regular "Internet Sites" feature of Vol 16, No 11 issue, complete with pictures and a short write up. I’ll tell you it gave me a heart fluttering shock to be reading my new issue of Stitches’ and come across that. The noise I uttered made my husband, who was calmly reading the newspaper nearby, think I needed medical attention. No, just terrifically and pleasantly surprised. Thanks Elizabeth!

SWAP Update

On the SWAP sewing front; I have completed another top and bottom. The bottom is a flared calf length skirt with 8 panels. It is made out of a brown twill woven polyester fabric.Here is what the drafting instructions look like. The picture in the magazine wasn't good enough to post.

It has the flare and swirl I was looking for. I wanted to wear it out to a play with the Missoni knit top from the previous post, so I sewed it up quickly with very cursory measurement checks and no fitting. My diet and exercise must be working. The skirt is very loose in the waist and hips. I need to go back and sew slightly larger seam allowances on each panel to make it more fitted.

The top is a deep V neck T-shirt with a neck band and modesty panel. The drafting instructions were in the 10-08 issue of Lady Boutique.It is made of rayon/lycra knit purchased from Lucys Fabrics. This website is a good source for rayon/lycra knits at very reasonable prices. Though their new web site is not loading on my computer very well. Hope they get that fixed.

The style appealed to me because it was a interesting variation on a basic V neck T-shirt pattern and it was made in a striped print similar to my fabric.

I have one bottom and the jacket to complete. The bottom is a pair of brown jeans. I can't decide whether to make a fitted straight leg jean or a looser trouser type jean. The first will require more fitting efforts. As to the jacket, do you remember that foot of snow in last week’s picture? Well, the weather flopped back to the other extreme this week, it was 83 degrees yesterday. I am not real motivated to make a lined wool jacket. I want to pull out my spring and summer fabrics and make something for warm weather.