Well, as I have announced couple of days ago, I decided to sew a red dress for the Republic Day celebrations on October 29th. 

I had an eye on the Burda Style’s seamed dress released with August 2012 issue for quite some time and when I decided to sew a red dress, this was the only pattern that came to my mind. (Pattern also sold here separately.)

I believe my version of the dress turned out to be more stylish than the original dress… but I’m having a hard time in saying the same thing for the model… :))

The rules for sewing a red dress for the Republic Day was to use white as an accessory (the national colors) and I used a white belt (I wrote a much detailed post about this sewing event in my Turkish language blog…). But I think a black and white belt goes much better with this dress. Frankly, I wouldn’t want to look like a flag in any day apart from the Republic celebrations :)   

This belt looks much better with the exposed zipper as well, doesn’t it?.  

I just discovered this new DIY fashion. These exposed zippers are very trendy, very chic, and quite easy to sew! I intend to use this technique in other outfits very soon. 

But let me clarify one thing; this zipper is not inserted by using the exposed zipper sewing technique. I just didn’t want to make it more visible than it looks right now. The actual exposed zipper technique is used to sew the zippers totally on the right side of the outfits. As said before, it’s to be discussed in another post. Let me keep talking about my beloved red dress now :)

As you can follow from the technical drawings of the pattern, the darts are a little bit tricky for an intermediate skilled seamstresses. There are darts that should match with one another everywhere :) But it was definitely worth the effort! 

The weird looking shoulder detail is actually my addition to this pattern. Although it was my design, the inspiration was from the creative author of  Straight Grain. I will share with you the steps of making this origami sleeves in a couple of days. In the meantime, feel free to check out the true creator of the idea. 

It was nerve-wracking and painful from time to time. But it was definitely worth it! I loved this dress so much that I want to put it under my pillow and sleep with it :))

In the original pattern, it was suggested to sew the bust darts inside out (“small tucks” as referred by the BurdaStyle website) but I decided to sew them like other darts ‘cause I thought there’s already so much going on on the shoulders and the neckline.  

The length of the skirt is slightly longer than I normally use. But when I use synthetic fabrics, they just love going up! :) This fabric was no exception. It’s a moderately thick cotton-polyester blend, honestly I don’t know what it’s called ‘cause I bought it from a coupon fabric stand. You can imagine my dazzlement when I saw the color :)

I find this pattern quite successful. I love how it turned out - even without the origami sleeve detail. The only downside was the lack of neckline facing! It’s really surprising.. How come an experienced pattern company like Burda Style can forget such a thing ? :)) Anyhow, it’s not that hard to draft your facing pattern but just be prepared to do that before you start cutting your fabric. 

Apart from it, I highly recommend this pattern to all and I definitely intend to use it again - perhaps with a contrast color shoulder detail this time :))

PS: Click here for the Origami Raglan Sleeve Tutorial 

happy sewing! :)

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