Stripes, asymmetric gathers and a cowl

This was a fabric and pattern plan that could have ended badly.

How weird would the stripes look as they bent around my upper body?

Are gathers at the waist just a flag that says “there’s a pot belly trying to hide here”?

Would my stretch cotton be too robust for the cowl?

Hmm. Looks okay on the hanger. Perhaps I don’t need to be worried.

Of course lots of clever and stylish sewists in blog land had made a great version of this dress (kbenco, Alison.C, Kristy, The Slapdash Sewist, Dawn, LazyLinchen, Sigrid, to name a few). But they were not me, nor do I have their figures. I am a brick and they all have waists.

I don’t know what gathers look like over my abdomen. Unchartered territory!

Aren’t I brave?!

Technical details

Pattern: BurdaStyle 10-2012-118

Size: 34-42, I made a 42 with a 15 mm swayback adjustment, in other words, the normal for me. This pattern is close fitting (or perhaps it is just the end of winter?!).

I didn’t add more ease because I guessed the fabric might give a little once I wore it.

I can report that it did- I wore it to work today. It’s a very comfortable dress to wear.

Fabric: A medium weight navy and oyster striped stretch cotton

Changes I made:

Burda has the front cut with the skirt part on the bias. I wanted to use my thicker stripes on the hem, so I cut it on-grain. So did lots of the sewing bloggers who went before me with this pattern. Not being bias cut might have added to the close fitting-ness

I shortened the sleeves. I didn’t have enough fabric so there was a bit of piecing to get the thicker stripes on the bottoms of both the sleeves, but it’s on the back near the seam. Not so noticeable, certainly not to me!

Because the fabric is a stretch woven, and because there is no walking slit in the skirt, I used a double needle for the hem.

This is an easy project (no lining! yeah!) and I’m pleased with the results.

I think there is a flag on those waist gathers about my belly, but I really don’t mind.