Diamond Dress - Burda 8 2019 109

In the last year, Burdastyle magazine  has featured several variations of one piece dresses with V necklines and longer flared skirts. I don’t recall ever wearing a dress of this style,  but it looked like a good option for work dressing on a rushed morning.

 To test the water,  I chose  what I thought was the easiest to sew version, Dress 109 from the August 2019 issue.  This dress is in tall sizes 72-88. I am an inch shorter than Burda's tall height but I haven’t found this to be a problem.   The bodice is seamed to the skirt about 1.25 inches above the natural waist. I made an 82 on top 84 below waist.


Dress description:  “Exact cuffs, inlaid pleats along the shoulder ( not in the pattern I traced from magazine )and a moderate V-neckline … the cut of this dress with the bias skirt panel looks good on paper, though the real power of the style is in the wonderfully printed crêpe in electric blue and black.”

The fabric I chose for my wearable muslin was an inexpensive  polyester crepe.

  The little diamonds were printed on the diagonal. Because the  skirt is cut on the bias, the  diamonds end up in horizontal and vertical lines on the skirt.  Probably no one but a sewist would notice, but I didn’t care for it, especially over the tummy. Why didn’t I realize that would happen before cutting?  Because I was at a sewing retreat when I was cutting this dress out and was doing more talking that paying attention to what I was doing.

I like the style and fit on me, however my choice of fabrics resulted in a rather sober, dark dress.

The dress definitely needs a belt to accent the waist and breakup the expanse of black. For fun I purchased a coordinating belt bag to copy the styling in the magazine picture.  It actually proved to be quite useful as well as decorative.  During my normal work day, I attend many meetings in different parts of a very large building.  I always carry  my laptop, wireless mouse, phone, and a pen. Often juggling the last three items or putting them in various garment pockets.  The belt bag was great for neatly carrying them all in one place.

BurdaStyle 8 2019 109

I am thinking of making this dress again but in a lovely print wool challis.