Burda 6840 dress hack

Hi loves! If you read my previous post, you may remember I concluded by saying I was very excited for my ‘next challenging project’ and it was rightfully so! Prior to this project, I had never done any pattern hacks and thinking about it now, I couldn’t have picked a more complicated blouse pattern for that purpose…(right? 😆 why do I do this to myself).

I fell in love with this pattern’s neck-tie and the potential I saw in the sleeves (more puffier and raised cuffs😍 ) but man was I scared of the concealed buttonhole placket (more on this later)…I was also on the fence about whether or not to line this dress. So on my instagram poll, you guys recommended I wear one of those slip underwear dresses. So that was it, I made up my mind, took the plunge, learned all the techniques I had to learn and here, you judge for yourself if it was worth it or not.. 😊

Pattern and fabric:

The original pattern was Burda 6840 and I chose view B, which had a bow-tie, concealed buttonhole placket, long sleeves and four short-stitched tiny front folds held in place by the shoulder yokes. In view A, you can make it sleeveless and with collar. See mod section for the dress hack details.

The gorgeous georgette fabric was gifted to me kindly from Minerva. The butterfly prints stole my heart the minute I saw them. I immediately pictured myself twirling my way through a beautiful floral garden wrapped around this fabric while the birds were singing and the butterflies were chasing me around (my imagination can take me places, I know😅 ). The pink and fuchsia colours are so vibrant that I had to be easy on the saturation edit of my photos (‘nough said!😍). And last but not least, the material was kind of grainy but still soft to touch, which made sewing so much easier because of that itty bitty friction you get despite being lightweight. I didn’t have any fabric slipping problems and this was my first time sewing with a georgette. The only thing to keep in mind is that the edges fray easily due to the nature of this material so I’d recommend you serge the edges of the cut fabric right away.

Minerva also has this same fabric in a turquoise colour. Here is the link to the fabric if you want to check them out (unaffiliated link):

https://www.minervacrafts.com/shop/fabric/dress-fabrics/c8267-pink-m-polyester-georgette-fabric?colour=Pink

Modifications:

Bodice:

• Eliminated the yokes all together and instead extended the back shoulders to the front to meet the lowered shoulder seams of the front bodice. So the four tiny folds were held in place by the back bodice (which was one piece) versus the yokes.
• Widened the sleeves at the shoulders (by 3″) and just below the elbow (by 2″) to create that puff effect.
• Increased the height of the cuff by 2″
• For the cuffs, I also did my own thing. I didn’t follow the instructions to fold the fabric on the sides to create the opening. I wanted the cuffs to be as covering as possible, if that makes sense? Just see image below to make sense of me 😛
• hemmed the bodice to above waist
• hand-sewed all the button-holes as well as the neckband to the collar

Self-drafted skirt:

Initially, I planned on using a pattern for the skirt but ended up self drafting it. Basically, I cut a rectangular piece, 45″ long and a maxi height at first but I ended up shortening it to a mini. Next, I ease stitched and gathered the waist of the skirt until it matched the size of the bodice waist (see below). Sewed the two pieces together in double rows before inserting the elastic! Easy peasy.

A couple notes:

• As always, I highly recommend you make a toile, at least for the bodice. Remember I said I was scared of the concealed buttonhole placket? Well, I got a hang of it once I made the toile and it wasn’t that bad at all! It’s just the matter of you following the instructions on the sequence of the folds but as you all know…the instructions can be confusing at first!
• I am 100% happy with my choice of not lining the dress, so if you have a similar chiffon/georgette fabric, consider purchasing an underwear slip dress instead. Mine was in nude and you cannot even tell by looking at it. Otherwise, lining the dress may weight down the fabric and just create headaches especially with the complexity of this design.

Conclusion:

You guys, I am going to go ahead and say it…I’m so proud of myself for nailing my first pattern hack. It was definitely nerve wrecking at first to push myself out of my comfort zone but now I’ve got the confidence I need to do even more. I highly recommend if you have a hack in your imagination, just go for it. This was specially important to me because I love adding my own personal twists to my garments. What a fun challenge this was. Thank you to all of you who followed along my stories and showed me so much love.

Until the next one,

Cheers loves,

A