Snake Print Burdastyle Twist Front Dress

I was lucky enough to be chosen as a guest blogger on Minerva Crafts.  For my first project in partnership with Minerva I chose  Burdastyle 01/2018 101 dress in viscose jersey.

Choosing which fabric to use from their extensive selection was difficult because there are so many lovely fabrics to choose from.  I was also aware that it is early spring in New Zealand and I wasn’t sure how long it would take to post from the UK to New Zealand.  I didn’t want to choose a fabric that would be out of season by the time it arrived.  In the end I chose a gorgeous snake print viscose knit, which is a good fit for my spring wardrobe and I just hoped it would arrive before the weather got too hot.  I was pleasantly surprised when it showed up within two weeks, no small feat when it was travelling from one end of the planet to the other!  There is no better feeling to arrive home from work and find fabric on your doorstep!  I don’t think I had been in the door more than 10 minutes and the fabric was in my washing machine being prepared for my project.

When I ordered this fabric, I had Burdastyle 01/2018 101 in mind.  It is often difficult to order fabric for a specific project online but after checking Minerva’s description of this fabric, I was fairly convinced it would be a good fit and I was not wrong.  Burdastyle were fairly generous with their fabric quantities so with some clever cutting there is a piece leftover that I hope I can make a tee shirt of some description at a later date.

The weight of this fabric was perfect for the lovely wrap detail on the front of the dress, but I was concerned that it may stretch out at the shoulder and waist seams, so as a bit of insurance, I added clear elastic when I overlocked it.

Because of the amount of stretch in my fabric, I omitted the zipper in the back of the dress after checking it would fit over my head, of course!  A zip in a drapey knit dress, I felt,  was a recipe for disaster.  I also left off the neck facing and instead made a small neck band.  Because of these changes, I was able to construct the dress almost entirely on my overlocker.  I had intended to bind the neckline with my coverstitch machine but I have only just recently bought my first binder and my trial was a hot mess, so I rain checked this idea for a future project when I have had more time to have a play with it.   I did however hem the dress with my coverstitch.  I would have liked to use some iron on hem stabilizer but I didn’t have any thankfully my coverstitch decided it would behave itself on this occasion without it.

I did spend a bit of time trying to work out how the wrap detail went together.  Burdastyle are rather notorious for their lack of instructions, and working at night after work, my brain is often on a go slow so sleeping on the issue can often provide a little clarity.  This is exactly what I did with this dress and I realised the wrap detail is actually really simple and quite cleverly drafted.  Actually the dress itself is really quite simple but the overall effect makes it look very stylish.

I am really pleased with the finished dress.  It will be perfect with boots  and a cardigan for those cooler spring days but also perfect with sneakers or sandals for a café lunch on the weekend.  What is not to love about animal print!