December hasn't even started

and I finished a dress from the December issue of Knip Mode. In general I’m quite happy with it, the neckline is a bit deep and the collar tends to flip to the outside. Think I will open up the center front seam and pull the collar a little bit farther in. Doing this and keeping it together with pins helped a lot.

 

I like the drafting of the pattern, though I think there’s one marking point missing in the center front piece. Not a lot of trouble with my sewing experience, but could be difficult for others. I used a size 40 and only tapered down to 42 at hip height for the back pattern piece.

Melissa, who made the same dress last week, already noted that there are a lot of layers at center front. The fabric must not be too thick. I did not use my serger for the center front and neckline but used a zigzag stitch. The marking I missed was for where to start gathering at the center front piece. Pinning and basting everything together before sewing helped me in visualizing how this got together and  decide that the gathers all had to be below the pleated end of the collar (the part thats folded over), so that there would be no extra gathered layers of fabric at the point of the pleats.

I followed the detailed construction drawings, but changed (after unpicking) one step: the instructions tell you to sew upper front and skirt together and then sew the neckline and center front. I first finished the complete upper part (gathers, neckline and sewing center front), and my last step was sewing the upper part to the skirt part. I unpicked the seam I had already done for about 2 inches. For me this was easier to work.

Conclusion: I like the dress and I like Knip Mode better than BurdaStyle at the moment. Think I’ll start the new year with a subscription.