Finally finished: the (not quite) red dress!

While being really in a big delay, I finally finished the "red dress" from the Cose Conmigo by Sonia of La pequena aprendiz. But, as I don't like to wear red colored garments, mine is not red, but purple.

I have to admit that I didn't follow Sonia's instructions very exactly. As you can see, I also made a modification of the skirt part. The original pattern, Burda 8/2012, Nr. 121, has a slim pencil skirt. But I usually don't wear these, and I felt very unsure if such a slim skirt would be flattering on me. 

So I modified the skirt pattern and turned it into an A-line skirt. Which wasn't difficult at all. In case you want to make that dress with an A-line skirt, too, I made some bad sketches to show you the steps. 

The original skirt tapers down at the hem, so the first step was to make the side seam perpendicular to the hem line. I also drew some vertical lines (only to the bigger pattern part) and cut them, starting at the hem, but stopping cutting right before the end of the line.

Then I spread the bigger skirt part, so that the upper seam line matched up with the smaller skirt part while staying flat. 

Which left me with a bump at the side of the smaller skirt part, which I just cut away. That's it!

As the pattern is for tall sizes and I'm really short (I even have to shorten patterns for petite sizes!), I also had to shorten the whole thing. And of course I made the usual adjustments which are always the same for Burda patterns, so by now I can do them even without making a muslin: forward shoulder adjustment, narrow shoulder adjustment, and swayback adjustment. Some paper-and-scotch tape work!

I didn't want the dress to become too warm, so I used a cotton fabric, which unfortunately wrinkles a lot. But it feels better on the skin than some synthetic lining fabric, so I decided to only line the skirt (so that it will not clinch my tights when worn) and leave the bodice as it is, with a facing at the neck. 

I made a machine rolled hem at the top of the lining skirt and attached it at the waist with a row of topstitching. It does not look very even inside, but nobody will see it. 

See? I used a bright pink lining fabric, which will never be seen as well, but I like it nevertheless. 

For the zipper, I could not find a matching invisible zipper the pattern instructions call for, so I made a center back lapped zipper again. I just love them so much!

Looking at the photos, I think I should also add some belt loops at the sides, as the belt tends to fall down a bit...

Thank you, Sonia, for the nice Cose Conmigo, and for inspiring me to make that dress! And, although it is not red, I call it the "vestido rojo" by myself, thinking of you and your great blog! Besitos!