Sewing for a heatwave... Burdastyle 06/2013-117

The extreme weather seems to be affecting everyone, no matter what part of the world you are in.  Here in Australia we are having extreme heatwaves.  Thankfully we have not had such extremes as the bottom part of the continent, but still much worse heat than we usually get. Generally the climate here is pretty temperate, so I do not have enough clothes to cope with the heat we have had.  On one of the days we were predicted to have high temperatures, I had a couple of appointments to attend in town, so needed a presentable but cool option for the day. I have eyed off 06/2013-117 for awhile and this was my opportunity.  The leader for that collection of clothing even says "Keep looking stylish, even in the heat..."

I ended up cutting a 40 through the shoulders and went to a 42 through the bust, waist and hips. I did not want this dress to be too close fitting.

These pictures in front of the orange wall are closest to the true colour.

The fabric is a stretch linen purchased from Gorgeous Fabrics in 2009/10 and is a lovely colour.  However I believed the stretch would help with the wrinkles but I was really wrong.  This dress mega-wrinkles!  However the stretch does make it comfortable to wear.  I am ever hopeful that it may soften and wrinkle less after a few washes.

The side panels are not easy to sew in and probably why this pattern gets the 3 dots meaning intermediate level.  Other than that it came together beautifully.  I was pretty happy with my zipper insertion as I managed to get a reasonable match between the front and back side panels.  

I loved the hand stitching detail and used an embroidery floss for this in brown.  I have a tip I have shown before on how to get even straight stitching - here.   

The only dOH! moment is when I was climbing into the car with this dress on and I could hear the stitching on the hem snap!  I should have known better than to use the stitching on an area the stretch would affect.  For the moment I have dabbed it with fray stopper in the hopes of holding the stitches, but if it breaks again I will remove it from the hemline.  No such issues around the neckline and armholes, which is where you mostly see it anyway.

So far a very useful dress to have in the wardrobe regardless of the wrinkling.  I really need more dresses in more wardrobe - they are so easy to throw on in the morning and go... 

My review is here. 

Ciao for now another heatwave dress next up...