Burda Belted Glen Plaid Dress

I finally finished the dress I've been working on since mid-February, a Burda magazine pattern that I cut from a fabulous glen plaid knit. You can tell that I was really influenced by the pattern photo here; as soon as I saw it I wanted a subtle grey work dress. This print is pretty much as subtle as I get ;)

Burda 105-09-2019

I really enjoyed making this! The style lines are fairly simple, and it went together well. I had to unpick the neckband twice to get it to just the way I wanted it, but that is because of my well-known lack of neckband skills, not the pattern. I really like the full sleeve and the gathering at the cuff, but am still considering removing the cuff and shortening the sleeve by an inch just to get it exactly right.

The only alterations I made were just ones for length, and of course I added side seam pockets too. I used cotton broadcloth so that they are smooth and non-bulky. The pattern has the waistline marking on it so it was easy to position my pockets. 

With some careful cutting I was able to get the print to match up at the side seams. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. Even the neckband print matches up, which makes me unreasonably happy ;)

The unusual feature of this dress is the self belt. There were two options; a sliding buckle or eyelets. I chose the simpler version, but had quite a time finding a large enough buckle. There was nothing in my stash so I had to go farther afield and check at Fabricland, where I found two possibilities. Now I do have one in my stash! 

I find that Burda fits so well. I made minimal adjustments to this dress and was really most careful about the print placement. I really like the shape and the way this lighter weight knit works in this design. The sewing process was straightforward -- the thing that took the longest was trying to source the belt buckle!

Although the weather is warming up, as you can tell by the melting snow all around me, I think I'll still get some wear out of this before Spring really gets here. Because of the lighter weight of this fabric, it is not overly warm, and is so comfy to wear that I'm going to try to wear it as much as I can! Another Burda hit for me.