Graphic Print Shirt Dress (Burda Magazine)

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I have some actual newness for you this week, this time in the shape of a shirt dress! I made this at the end of last year - those with a keen eye/memory might recognise it from my 2020 Wrap Up post - but now it's getting its own post!

I absolutely love shirt dresses. They're such versatile pieces that can be layered in the colder months, and thrown on as-is in the warmer months for virtually zero-effort outfits. The pattern is one I've used before (for this zebra print version), which comes from an old Burda style magazine (UK issue 112, from March 2016). Burda magazine patterns certainly are a lot more effort than regular commercial patterns, both in that you have to trace out all your pattern pieces, which takes forever and can be quite headache-inducing (there tend to be like 10 different patterns all printed overtop of each other on the same piece of paper, and finding the precise pieces you need within that, in the precise size you need, can be troublesome), AND in that the instructions tend to be a nightmare of vague directions and inconsistently translated terms.

I'll be honest - though this probably isn't a massive shock given what I've just written - I'm not the biggest fan of using these patterns, and I often find them more hassle than they're worth. But given that I'd already used this particular pattern, and therefore already done the heavy lifting of tracing out the pattern pieces and working out how to sew everything up, my usual grievances weren't too much of a problem in this instance.

And with all those frustrating elements out of the way, I have to admit that I do really like this pattern, and have liked other patterns I've used from Burda Magazine. Maybe I just get grumpy with things that need an extra time investment. If you have any experience sewing shirts, this is a relatively straightforward sew - the covered buttonhole band did confuse me for a bit as I couldn't remember how I did it the first time round, but everything else is pretty standard. It's hard to say how accurate the sizing of this is, as it's super oversize and I'm not sure if it's meant to be (it never looked that baggy on the model in the magazine).

In terms of fabric, I used some crepe I've had in my stash for a few years that had never been earmarked for any particular project. I was really drawn to the bold graphic print, but I've never really thought of it being my "style" so it got abandoned, like so many other beautiful fabrics. Some kind of garish 80's boss b*tch blouse seemed like the best use of it, and I'm pretty satisfied that the end result does fit that description.

By far the most challenging part of this make was the pattern matching down the centre front. I don't think I've ever attempted pattern matching on a shirt, and let me warn you, it is not for the faint-hearted. First off, you've got to bear in mind that the front pattern piece will have allowance for the buttonhole band, so your centre front will likely be a few inches in - from the edge, the markings will usually be foldline 1, foldline 2, then the centre front line. You do not want to get these lines confused. When it comes to prepping these bands, you want to be extra, extra careful to press the folds very precisely along their foldlines, as folding them in slightly more/less than the pattern provides for will throw everything off balance. I thoroughly recommend measuring and remeasuring before and after pressing, just to make sure things are exactly as they should be. Once sewn up, your centre front will lie down the middle of each button placket - if you look at the photos below, the tops and bottoms of the diamonds (which I chose to be my centre point) are equidistant away from the fabric edge (on the left) and stitched line (on the right).

Once you've successfully conquered this step, you then need to make sure everything continues to line up after putting in the buttonholes and buttons. To do this, I made my buttonholes first, then carefully pinned the two fronts together exactly how I wanted them to sit. Then I chalk marked through the bottom buttonhole to where its button needed to go, unpinned that section only, sewed on the button, buttoned it up, then worked my way up, only ever doing one button at a time. This way, if the pattern started to skew at all, I'd know which button was causing the problem and be able to resew it before the whole thing's gone wrong. It's slow, inefficient work, but it would REALLY bug me if those diamonds weren't exactly right.

The pattern matching did seem to work out in the end, which was a massive relief, and overall I'm pretty happy with how the whole thing turned out. It's not the most exciting thing I've ever made, nor is it the most "me" but it's fun, I'm happy with the construction of it, and I'm confident I'll wear it a lot, and ultimately that's probably all that matters!

Let me know your thoughts and don't forget to come back next week for another project!