Finished: Burda Plus Fashion FW08 #403 Blouse & #404 Pants

Blouse

This is a basic long sleeved blouse with a placket to hide front buttons. When I saw the front placket, I visualized a placket with which I'm familiar. This placket was a little different. It opens on the inside rather than the outside. The instructions were clear and the placket was easy to construct, but pictures would have helped remove the preconceived placket I had in mind. Burda instructions would be so much easier if pictures were included. But, I guess the confusion is part of the charm of Burda's magazine patterns. I needed a basic blouse, but the front placket treatment added a subtle, little extra design detail. i used a microfiber for this blouse. I'm ambivalent about microfiber. It looks and wears well, but it's a little … dense and I don't have as much fun fondling it. I'm amazed a fabric that feels so heavy drapes so beautifully. I've read microfibers really dull needles and it's easy to see how. The pattern had a flounce on the cuff but I chose to omit that. I made the cuff two inches wide to accommodate for the loss of the flounce. I like this pattern because it has versatility. The pattern can be altered to make a few basic styles. If I sew this again, I will probably sew it without the placket if I need a basic button front blouse. My goal has been to make more changes to patterns in order to get exactly what I want.

Pants

These pants are are classic fly-front pants with nothing to distinguish them from any other fly front pants. I've been using BWOF method of inserting the fly front, but I'll return to the Sandra Betzina method after these pants. While sewing these pants, I noticed a little funkiness in the zipper. I thought I could get away with it, but it's really evident in this picture. I'll have to get out the ripper before I wear these. Lately, my pants have been a little tight in the upper thighs. I used the alteration for increasing the thighs from Nancy Zeiman's Pattern Fitting with Confidence (or Fitting Finesse). I wish I'd lined these pants. The wool blend is comfortable next to my skin, but lining would make it even more so.