Love Sewing? You should with this pattern

As any of you who follow my posts will know,  most of my makes come from patterns in my stash of Burdas and Patrones.  So,  I took a little diversion when I found an ultra glam and versatile pattern from UK sewing magazine Love Sewing .  So special was this pattern I decided to use some saved fabric in my fabric pile and make this dress for my birthday outing.  Now, you know you have to have a special dress for your birthday.

The pattern in question was the Bardot Pattern, a freebie with Love Sewing issue 14 and which I was fortunate to get on back order.

It had all the perfect ingredients for the dress I had in mind;  off the shoulder neckline; 3/4 fitted sleeves; fitted bodice.  The pattern came as a full pleated skirt design, and this was the part I altered so I could have full circle skirt in order to wear a vintage style petticoat underneath, although on the day, I wore it without a petticoat as it may have got in the way, so to speak, but it's nice to have the option for wearability.

The pattern itself was an easy make.  Back boddice x 2, front bodice on a fold and 2 x sleeves, oh and a full circle skirt.  The fabric was a medium weight cotton sateen in white with mauve, pink and green floral design - a purchase from Athens during last years fabric shopping spree.   Once the bodice was made up and fitted to my liking, I added a bright purple satin lining.  Just cos you  don't see the insides of your make, doesn't mean they don't have to be nice - and a lining makes the garment feel lovely when wearing it. 

I felt a bit like the queen with my handbag and posh dress having my photo taken at the other worldly toilet pods in Sketch.

The dress continued to take me through my special day and was worthy of the art deco interior of the Park Lane Hotel and the ultimate vintageness of the Savoy where it held its own with the opulent decor.

Well that was the day of the Bardot Dress but....... I wasn't finished with this versatile pattern yet!

I loved this little bodice so much I had to dive again into my stash and out came some leopard print cotton jersey with elastane - perfect for an off the shoulder top in true vintage style.

I made up the bodice the same as for the dress, but this time omitting the zipper as there was clearly enough stretch in the garment to leave this out.

The other two amendments I made to this perfectly hackable pattern was to add some thin 1/2 inch elastic into a casing at the neckline as the jersey was super soft which made it comfy to wear but lacking the body to  sit firmly off the shoulder, and add in a self drafted peplum, a detail I love whether on tops or dresses as it adds a very feminine feel to a garment and is a great vintage style detail.

For anyone interested in drafting a peplum you simply measure around the hem of where you want your peplum added. That will be the circumference of your circle.  You then work out the radius by that old maths chestnut 2 pi R (there's a tutorial on my Melon Yellow post) and draw your circle from said radius.  The depth of the circle from your initial circumference will be the depth of your peplum.  DONT FORGET to add seam allowance where it joins together if you have a join in your peplum that is.

So, there it is - two of the options available for for this versatile pattern. If you've made the Bardot Dress yourself I'd love to see it either through a link here or on Instagram.  Check out DaisyCreatesIn Sussex to see more or copy me in so I can check out your makes and be inspired even more.

I used about 3m of 150 cm wide for the dress but this was for a circular skirt and I had a bit left over, plus a zip and some lining.
The top took about 1.3 metres (I can't remember exactly!!) plus a length of elastic.


Happy sewing

Linda xx