I’m trying to find a simple, straightforward pattern to construct a sheath dress in a fine knit or jersey fabric. Something like this would be ideal. I particularly like the high waist and potentially shortenable skirt.
I found this online and if I feel ambitious I may attempt it. I would prefer a less complicated pattern, though, since it has been a while since I exercised my sewing machine.
Full disclosure: I’m trying to assemble a Harley Quinn costume such as a supervillainess would wear if she were built to ordinary mortal specifications and worked in an office with a dress code. Which is to say, no skintight body suit.
Advice? Ideas? Favorite pattern recommendations? Thanks in advance!
Burda sells patterns in the US. Have you looked to see if they sell that particular pattern? (I’m assuming you don’t live in Europe or you would buy that pattern. Right?)
Have you googled sheath dress pattern? I have seen in fall fashions that the 60’s look, because of Mad Men, is in style, so retro patterns should be available. Try ‘vintage dress patterns’, too.
Correct, I am in the US. I had already combed through the burdastyle webpage but it only seems to reference patterns published after 2010, and that particular pattern was published in 2009.
I have been paging through dress patterns one by one on various sites, but was hoping someone might have had a good experience with a pattern and be able to recommend it. Thanks!
Haven’t tried that style but the See & Sew patterns from Butterick are usually easier and faster to make. Try this or thisor this. Also McCall’s Easy Stitch & Save here or here or here.
I don’t know if it is still the case but Burda patterns used to be hit or miss. They were sometimes printed without seam allowances or without all the instructions spelled out. Not good for someone out of practice.
Sorry I don’t have suggestions to add… I’m just chiming in to agree with this. My biggest projects so far have been 2 flower girl dresses and 2 bridesmaids dresses. Nothing overly complicated; they came out very well and it made me feel pretty handy. I feel I can hold my own at this point with the well known brands mentioned above, although I don’t sew now as much as I used to.
Last year my daughter was looking for a semi formal dress, and we thought it would be fun to make it together. We found a nice Burda pattern. The dress itself looked like it was within our abilities. She’s got beginner to intermediate sewing experience herself, but between the two of us, we couldn’t make heads or tails of most of the instructions. We ended up buying a dress.
Just read the instructions first to make sure they make sense to you. That was our mistake; they sure didn’t to us!