Thursday, May 1, 2014

Burda 05/2014 #106 Ruched Dress (Again!)

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I had to do it again. In another crazy print. This one is crazier than the last one.
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This is a great dress and it goes together super fast. I put this together in less than an hour. Although, remember it was already traced off because I made it last week too.
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Is this fabric not crazy? It’s again from my favorite place in National City! This one seems to make me look super curvy. I think it’s the bright white stripes.
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Oh look, here I am posing like a Burda model and hiding all the details!
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I thought I’d share my ITY coverstitch hemming trick with you guys. You know when your coverstitch machine is eating your knit fabric, or when it makes those annoying folds because it is pulling on the fabric? This seems to solve the problem. I cut my Sulky Water Soluble Stabilizer into strips about an inch wide. Then I just feed it under the foot when I’m hemming. It seems to give it enough body that it won’t pull and tug on your poor knit. I use this trick on most of my fine knits.
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Here’s what is looks like before I trim it off. Then I stick it in a bowl of hot water and it disappears. The coverstitching never skips, pulls, or breaks.
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If you follow Burda’s directions, they have you fold the cowl-neck first and then put on the arms which means you have this weird finish on the edges when they meet the cowl. I tried it another way. First, I finished the raglan-arm pieces and CB with a fold-over strip of self-fabric. Next, I sandwiched the cowl around the side fabric. I made one stitch on each side and voila, the seam is encased in the cowl and no weird seam between the cowl and the raglan-sleeves.
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I drew a diagram, but maybe it just makes it more confusing.
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Next up: a one-hour dress beginning to end.