I posted a little while ago about a top and skirt that I thought made a good faux dress so I tried to duplicate it. I had bought 1.5m of fabric to make a top and realised after cutting out the top I could squeeze a skirt from the remainder of the fabric (as happened with the first version). I’ve had these cut out for a while but didn’t get around to sewing them until Sunday.
The top is Burda 05-2012-110 (made before here)
The skirt is Simplicity 2645
It’s a simple six-panel skirt, fully lined, with a side zip and no waistband. If you look closely you can see where I had to turn the two side back panels upside down on the fabric to fit it onto my remnant, but I don’t think it looks too strange.
The Burda pattern for the top was designed for a jersey, but I thought I’d see how it would work in a woven (a poly crepe-de-chine) cut on the bias. I now understand that I simply don’t like the way bias cut clothing feels on my body. If I look back at garments that I’ve made and then given away to charity shops I can see that a surprising amount of them were bias cut. This problem with bias cut garments only really occurred to me when I read this post on Lladybird’s blog where she says that bias cut garments feel weird – that’s when the lightbulb went on and I realised that I feel exactly the same way. Bias cut garments just feel weird – it’s like they are twisting when I wear them.
So, this skirt and top were supposed to create a faux dress
I like the idea of it, and think it looks pretty good on Dolly (although a bit too blousey in the side view), but it feels weird when I wear it. The skirt will definitely go into the wardrobe, but I’m not sure about the top as I don’t think I’m likely to wear it. I now have to find another top to wear with the skirt. The flash on my camera has lightened the colour somewhat – it’s actually a very dark navy, almost black, and cream, and I don’t think I own anything that will go with it.
I now have to rethink some of my future sewing plans because there are definitely some bias cut garments in there.
Something I forgot to say in my last post (the cherry print dress) – I know that a lot of sewists seem to find a dress or skirt of the length I made to be frumpy – and I simply don’t care :). It’s a length I like to wear. I know my mum thinks I wear a lot of my skirts/dresses too long but I know what I feel comfortable in, and nearly ankle length is comfortable for me. I also like skirts above the knee – but only in the winter when I can wear tights to hide my fishbelly white legs! That is one of the pleasures of sewing – not being dictated to by fashion.
One last thing – Burda is apparently publishing a special issue in October (I read about it on Clio & Phineas) and I can’t find a way to order it in the UK. The website linked to via Clio & Phineas want $30 to send one here. So, if any of my readers are thinking of ordering it for themselves ($10 to the US) I was wondering if you would be willing to order an extra copy and then post it here to me in the UK. All costs will be repaid – Paypal would probably be easiest and, obviously, I’d pay enough so that the Paypal percentage would be covered. I know it’ll be less than $30!
ReadyThreadSew 
Sorry you didn’t have enough of the fabric.Hate when that happens..But you did a good job anyway, I love it.. I don’t like bias either.. Hard to lay out and doesn’t feel good to me either?
I love ,love,love your cherry dress.[Even went to ebay to buy the pattern, after seeing it last night,ha] I love the length.. so comfortable. And you said it so well….. That is the wonderful thing about sewing. Making it the way “you like it”… Love it.
I hope you found the pattern on ebay – it’s a good one. I did have to alter it a bit, but because it has a separate bodice, waistband and skirt it was very easy to alter.
You got my vote for non-bias clothes too. Tried those drapey cowl necks on the bias and they just bother me even if they are knit…the brides that come to me with Jean Harlow bias draped silk charmeuse dresses are anorexic and look the best…the rest of us women who have meat on our bones have to weigh up the lumps and bumps showing…who needs that?
It’s so nice to know that I’m not alone in my (newly discovered) dislike of bias cut garments 🙂
I think that length is more functional than frump- I need to be able to sit, stand and move in skirts and that length is easier for tasteful navigation, you knows?
It’s not you, bias cut garments feel twisted to me too, and I guess they really are, hence the odd feeling. I like the idea of bias cut but…
Regarding skirt length, at some point you wear what you like and that’s a really good thing. It seems all skirt lengths are in style, at least in my book!
I like your faux dress too but I understand, it does’t always work out when a garment is completed, not what you imagined it would be, heavy sigh!
I’m looking into the Burda best of issue, it looks intriguing.
I do not like bias cut garments either….. And your description of feeling twisted is IT exactly!
I do not think turning a couple pieces did any harm…. looks good! Maybe put a solid top with it and belt it and it will look like a dress! Great job!
I like the idea of creating separates that work together as a dress, and I have to say I like the shape of your skirt. I can understand that if it doesn’t “feel good” that you won’t want to wear it though (I recently chucked a few pairs of pants – fit was fabulous, but nasty polyester gaberdine was NOT fun to wear). Since you are keeping only the skirt – maybe you could wear it with a cream-colored shirt and a navy sweater? Don’t know if you have those things, but I was thinking that might look good with the skirt since you said the color is darker in real life. Anyway, I really like the skirt, so I hope you can find a way to wear it!
I don’t like bias cut if the fabric is silky and slippery, you are right it feels twisted. Many years ago I had a 3 gored skirt with the front gore cut on the bias, it was made from rayon challis and it was wonderful to wear. It didn’t feel strange at all. Damn, now I want a skirt like that again.
about that Burda October special- I ordered it & reviewed it. I felt it was very generic compared to their usual vintage inspired patterns.
http://nouvellegamine.wordpress.com/2012/10/02/burda/
I really like that combo – got to love paisley! Bummer that you won’t wear the top but at least you’ve identified what you don’t like and why (one thing anyway).