burda

Sewing a Skirt from a Vintage Burda

Publié le 28 Mai 2022 par Charly C.

Catégories : #sewing, #DIY, #fashion, #Burda, #clothes, #upcycling, #minimal waste

Hello, all!

I don't know how many of you remember that last year I did something called Blog-March. There aren't many entries to check out, sadly. This year, I decided not to participate anymore.

In this entry, i mentioned i made a green skirt, perfect for Saint Patrick's day, celebrated on March 17th. I believe I also mentioned i might share how I made it and so on. Well, today is the day this will happen. And as it happens, it is now May that i finally manage to gather my thoughts related to this entry and complete it.

green skirt slow fashion sewing diy clothes Burda Moden — Please ignore the wrinkles..

SKIRT DESIGN

I found the skirt in a vintage Burda magazine, from May 1996! I posted a quite short browse-through of this issue, in this entry, if you're curious.

Below, you'll see what the skirt is supposed to look like, according to the magazine. The skirt has 2 front panels, 2 back panels, pockets, a waist band, as well as panels for the buttons and button holes.

Skirt 107 from Burda Moden 5/1996

As you can see, Burda is rating the difficulty of the designs it shares. I think the rating is from 1 to 4 or 5 dots. This skirt has a rating of 2 dots, making it relatively easy to make. For those confused, in the picture with the model sitting, 106 represents a body. The skirt has the number 107.

The difficult part is the pockets. I believe there's a sewing lesson with how these pockets must be done. Let's just say i simplified my life by not using any pockets initially. I only added them last month, but i'll talk about that later.

The sizes of the skirt are European 36 through 44, where 36 is a Small and 44 is a Medium? In Burda, 44 is the smallest size for the garments dedicated to "Plus Sizes." According to the measurements in Burda, i'm size 44 and so this is the one i traced and made.

It seems i have no picture taken of the traced pattern, just this copy i made in order to make a patchwork skirt. This is what i'm currently working on. One of the projects.

The skirt is supposed to be 80 cm long. I don't know why i remember adding a few more centimeters to this, but i'm not sure i did.

Sewing skirt with vintage Burda 5/1996 pattern

FABRIC

As far as fabric goes, i had this green fabric i found at the dumpster. It was a neighbor who got rid of several lengths of various types of fabrics. The colors and overall design also differed.

In the next pictures, i'll share, you'll see the color changing. This is because i was working in the evening, and my light was crap.

I believe the weave is a damask. I'm not sure what the fiber is. The burn test indicates cotton or similar, as it smells like burned paper. It is relatively heavy, so it hangs nicely.

However, i didn't have quite enough fabric to make the skirt as it was indicated, or perhaps I wanted to make things a bit easier on me. I forgot. This means i cut the back part on the fold, giving me one less seam to sew.

Cutting the panels and sewing them together was very easy, and nothing to write home about. The next step i took was to attach the panels for the buttons and their respective holes.

This was also pretty easy: I sewed pretty sides together, then i sewed by hand on the back (i think). This way, the raw edges were enclosed in the button bands. The next step i took, was to install the waistband. I redid the process, though i do regret not reinforcing in any way the waistband.

Then i had to hem the skirt. i made some sort of maybe bias? tape out of an underskirt i somehow i also found at the dumpster. The original item had nearly the same shade of green as the skirt, as you can see in the next picture.

Buttons and Closure

The skirt is supposed to have real buttons down the front, however due to my fancy-looking fabric, i didn't think this would be the best choice especially since the buttonholes had to be done in the fabric. My next option was to install a zipper, but i'm not that good in this department and i wasn't thrilled by this idea either.

green skirt slow fashion golden buttons sewing with burda — testing out some golden buttons. i liked the look, but i didn't lik the buttons up-close

A brilliant idea came to me when i realized i can use snap buttons hidden by fabric-covered but fake buttons. I had some on an old silk jacket, so i undid one of those to see how they're made. I noticed that it had 2 layers of material, one the size of the button and the other one, larger. I then copied the fabric outline onto paper, to make patterns.

golden buttons damask silk close up — Closeup of the buttons i was considering and the one i copied

Once i had the patterns, i cut out the fabric, and i started covering my buttons. I luckily had some old, ugly, blue buttons that have the same size as the original.

The first step was to stitch a simple row around the edge of the fabric, put the smaller piece on top, then the button, and then pull the thread to close the fabric like a really small sack. The last steps would be to secure the fabric around the button with a few extra stitches and then to attach the new button to the skirt.

Refer to the next pictures for a better mental image regarding this process, along with a comparison to the original button.

It would probably have been easier if, for the smaller pieces, i would have drawn circles directly with the button, but the idea just occured to me now (more than a year after i completed the process).

For the snap closure, i had to go to the haberdashery to buy the snaps. Luckily, i found and they were affordable. They’re the same diameter as the buttons. I sewed the snaps first, then the fake buttons on top and I really like the result! The swish! factor is 'chef’s kiss' 😗

sewing Burda may 1996 green skirt handmade

In this picture above you can see the hem of the skirt on the inside. That green band used to be some petticoat maybe? but it couldn't be used anymore - i forgot why. So i cut strips of some 7 cm? (3 inches? about?) and i sewed them together, to form a VERY long ribbon.

I know for sure i didn't cut the fabric on the bias but on the grain line. Then, the very long ribbon i sewed by machine to the very (not even) edge of the skirt, and then i sewed it by hand to hide ALL raw fabric edges. The best part about doing this is that i was able to more or less even out the skirt's hem and the result is rather professional looking - if you ask me.

This year (2022) I decided I wanted pockets in this skirt even if the fabric is fancy-looking. Look, pockets are useful even in a fancy-looking garment, ok? for this, I had to take the easiest route, and that was to open the seams of the skirt. Look it up all you want: seam pockets are the easiest to make, even in already bought garments.

However, this is will require an entry of its own. This one already became too long. What i want to say is that i really like the result and i think it looks BETTER than in the Burda sewing magazine.

Do you want to buy me a coffee? this is a 1-time donation, thank you very much!

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Making Victorian-inspired pantaloons - Sewing with a vintage Burda

Publié le 26 Décembre 2020 par Charly C.

Catégories : #DIY, #advice, #fashion, #interpretation, #review, #tips, #tricks, #Burda, #sewing, #vintage

Hello.

In November I had some time to make something and to even finish it. YAY!

Disclaimer: Well, I'm not sure they're really called "pantaloons" but this is what I'll call them in this article. I say they're Victorian-inspired because they have frills and lace.

INSPIRATION

My inspiration came from 2 places if I can call them that.

The first place is Subeta's (that is a referral link to this online pet and dress-up game) Magical Pirate Pantaloons of Sweet Love - you can see them here (This is a fan-made and helpful site for those playing Subeta).

The above image belongs to Subeta - used for informational purposes.

The second place is Bernadette Banner's video in which she makes a pair of Victorian underwear or combinations. You can watch the video here. She uses historically accurate fabrics and methods, including or especially hand-sewing.

The end result is closer to the Pantaloons of Sweet Love mentioned above, as you'll see from the pictures.

WHAT DID I USE

Fabric: As for fabric, I used some blue and very thin polyester fabric I had. Despite it being polyester, it feels quite nice against the skin.

Pattern: For the pattern, I had nothing "historical" or something made for a (Halloween) costume. I had this May 1996 Burda magazine that had a pattern I could use.

I needed some loose trousers with the simplest pattern possible. This one had just 2 pieces and was very loose. What else can I ask for?!

Other supplies: a pair of shears, matching thread, sewing machine, some elastic (not included in the picture), hand-made lace, and chord that i just had on hand. The lace and chord were either given to me or i may have found them at the trash.

The white lace is the remaining piece from what i had. Because it didn't occur to me to take pictures BEFORE i use it. Click here to see a close-up of the lace and the chord thing.

WHAT DID I DO

As you could imagine, first I had to trace out my pattern pieces and to cut the fabric. As a matter of fact, i wanted to make these Burda trousers for Anna, a while back. So i had the pattern already traced out and cut.

I only needed to cut the fabric. I folded the fabric in half, placed the paper on it, and cut with no seam allowance. This design is quite loose, therefore cutting with no seam allowance is fine. Otherwise, Burda patterns require you to add 1 cm (about half an inch?) of the seam allowance.

The next step was to sew 1 front piece to a back piece, then to sew the crotch. And at this point, you have a pair of trousers. I made a channel for the elastic at the waist, out of the pants - the design has a quite long crotch area, and therefore, you have plenty of fabric to just roll the top inwards twice for this purpose.

As you can see, my seam allowance is pretty small, but enough.

You can use elastic or a chord. This depends on whether you just want to pull the pants on or you want to bother to knot the chord, as the line drawing suggests. For me, the elastic was just SO easy!

And now comes the part where i made my first mistake which made things a bit more difficult for me. I constructed the trousers BEFORE i added the lace or formed those ruffles or channel for the knee elastic.

If you ever sew something, you would know it's easier to put ruffles on something when the item is flat/2D and not in a 3D shape. I think i would have been more accurate as well.

My next steps were as follows:

I measured about the place where i want the elastic to be, made the channel for it, eyeballed the place of the first ruffle, eyeballed the location of the hem, and completed the first leg.

I assumed that finishing 1 leg and then doing the second one would be easier. I'm not sure if it was or not, but it did feel that way.

Another mistake was not to measure the white lace, to ensure i have enough. From my eyeballing, it looked as if i did have enough. By now, you already know my guess was correct.

However, while I was working on the project, i had my doubts when time came for me to complete the second leg. I suggest you measure everything ahead of time, unless you trust your eyeballing guess. I'm pretty good at guessing, and this is why i didn't do the sensible thing of measuring. But I shall in the future.

Once the ruffles and the lace were installed, the pantaloons were done! YAY! Now (as I type this), they're packed and hidden, as they're a gift for Anna. You'll be reading this after she gets her present, sorry.

Previous Experience

What i want to also mention is that i actually worked with this pattern once before.

I made a pair of trousers for myself, last year in October. Back then, i used this pinkish silk fabric, that only later i realized it could be silk and i nearly fainted. I was either brave or decided to just go for it, and make myself some trousers.

That being said, this is how my pair turned out. There are many mistakes to be seen up-close. From further away, you can't tell.

For Anna, I used size 36 -the smallest available and for myself size 44, the largest available. I chose the sizes based on our measurements, but i didn't measure the pattern pieces themselves to see how large the finished garment would be.

For my pair, i tried leaving 1 cm of the seam allowance. My pair is a bit too roomy. It's because of this previous experience with the pattern that i knew not to cut with a seam allowance this time around.

As you can see, the expectation VS reality hits again, hahaha. Don't ask about what i'm wearing - at the time i thought it looked OK. The top is also hand/home-made, but it's a hand-me-down, so i don't know the pattern nor fabric.

Yes, sadly, the picture with me is not complete, therefore you can't see these pants are a tiny bit short on me. But this is because I'm taller than most and the pattern is for regular-height persons.

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