Burda 7057 Dirndl/Halloween/Sound of Music Madness!

FALL FALL FALL FALL FALL!!!

Can you tell I'm a wee bit excited for the season?  There's just so much to enjoy about it!  In addition to all the pumpkin flavored everythings and the excuse to wear every sweater I own simultaneously, sewing's favorite holiday is just around the corner - Halloween!

When else do I get to make completely impractical clothing I'll only wear once?  Well, I actually do that on a regular basis, but now I can acknowledge it and have fun with it!!  And this year I decided to take a little inspiration from one of my favorite musicals, The Sound of Music.

Having short blonde hair, I naturally thought I should dress up as Maria Von Trapp.  But on closer examination, I realized that my favorite singing nun's movie portrayal had a less than glamorous wardrobe.  I wasn't exactly keen on making exact reproductions of such costumes as this:

Iconic? Yes. Glamorous? No.

I know it may seem a little silly, but I decided if I was going to sew a whole costume it should at least be a bit more... well, more!  But there are some costumes I love, such as the ones Maria made out of the drapes for the children.

I always wondered why Maria didn't make one for herself... they're just so cute!

I was also inspired by the made-for-tv movie version of The Sound of Music and the dirndl-style dresses Carrie Underwood wore as Maria.  The original will forever be my favorite, but dang were her costumes cute!

So, I decided to create the hypothetical situation in which Maria did create her own "curtain dress" but in the style of a dirndl because... well, because I can!  

I chose Burda 7057 to create my Maria/dirndl/curtain:

Specifically, view B,D,F

I then went on a hunt online to find some accurate-ish drapery fabric, but to no avail.  I found some cottons that were almost passable but they didn't have large enough patterns for my taste.  In the end I decided to choose a completely different fabric that was drapery weight.  This was my final choice, purchased from Hancock Fabrics:

I was extremely please with the quality of the fabric, plus it's got a lovely sheen!

My mother purchase the white cotton I used, so I am not altogether sure where it is from (JoAnn's perhaps?)  but I greatly enjoy how soft and flowing it is.  I did end up lining the undershirt bodice due to its sheer nature, but that was easy enough to accomplish.

This is my final product:

The Front of the Dress

Detailing of the front bodice

 I used some brown ribbon I had lying around for the laces. I may change it later, but they serve well for now.

Burda 7057 Front Detail

 I chose not to use stabilizer on the bodice as the fabric was already quite stiff; if you were to use a lighter-weight fabric I would definitely use it, though!

Just in case you forgot what the front looked like...

 I omitted the detailing around the collar of the dirndl because I thought my fabric was too heavy to make it.  That, and I'm lazy, haha.

Back of the dress; note that the neckline of the dirndl is lower than that of the blouse in the back.

 If you're new to dirndls, you might want to know that the under-shirt is usually only half a shirt, meaning that it comes down just below the bust and not to the waist.

Detail of the back

Since I was using a symmetrical damask, I spent a bit of time making sure that the panels of the front and back mirrored each other (As in, the right panels all mirrored the left panels).  If you do use a one way designed fabric, make sure to note that you will be cutting half of it upside-down if you follow the suggested pattern layout.

I'm also not exactly sure where the hooks I used were purchased from, but I know someone on Etsy sells them.  They were a bit hard to find at my normal fabric stores, so I'll be sure to figure out where I got them!

*FITTING*
For me, fitting this pattern was really easy.  I cut it out the size I measured out to (10 in Burda) and didn't have to alter anything!  I have found that Burda fits me really well, so I normally have very few fitting issues and this pattern was not exception.  The only thing I might say is that I could have maybe made it wider in the shoulders, but my shoulders are pretty broad and the puffiness of the sleeves makes up for the space I would need anyways.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed making this pattern.  It looks and fits wonderfully and wasn't too difficult to put together!  It took me approximately 2 complete days of work to piece it all together (which translates to 2 whole seasons of Downton Abbey, or approximately 15 hours)  and it took me about 2-3 hours to cut out (I cut out slowly!).  In total, the whole process was about 18 hours long.  Keeping that in mind, I would recommend this pattern for an intermediate sewer as it is a bit of a time commitment and there is some fiddley hand-sewing.

If you're interested in seeing a more faithful interpretation of Sound of Music costumes, I would highly recommend Edelweiss Patterns!  She made an absolutely lovely version of Liesl's curtain dress that also served as inspiration for my creation.

I cannot wait to wear my dress on Halloween and I hope you have an impractically fun (and sewing) filled fall!

But first, ME in the dress!

Until next time!

-The Gretchen