Burda magazine pattern - halterneck holiday top

On Sunday afternoon I was feeling a bit restless, and super excited about my last minute holiday with a girl friend to hot hot Turkey (off next week!). I decided to put my restless energy to good use by sewing something, a short project that I could finish in an afternoon.

I didn't want to use any of my patterns as they're nearly all dress patterns and I thought a top or shirt would be a quicker project, so I took out a recent copy of Burda magazine I bought to take on a few days away we had recently. It's the first time I've bought Burda magazine and I was absolutely astounded by what great value for money it was - it contains more than 100 free patterns! I couldn't believe it! I knew I'd be able to find something quick and easy in there.

I really wanted to use an old pillowcase that had been stuck in my stash for ages, I had no other real use for it as it doesn't have a second matching pillow, it was all sad and lonely on its own! Seemed like a perfect fabric for a first attempt at a new (albeit quick and easy) pattern. It was a dark teal colour, with a prominent sequined flower design on the front. Being a pillowcase, obviously I was very limited in fabric width and the pattern had to be appropriate for that. I quickly came across this great drawstring halter neck top/dress, perfect for wearing on holiday in Turkey!



And here's the glossy model example of the dress view, which is always nice to see before starting the project:

So I set about making up the pattern, and reading the instructions in detail since this was the first time I was making this pattern. It was clear that one pillowcase wasn't quite going to stretch to a dress! So the top it would have to be, fine by me though as it'd be nice to have a new top to wear with my shorts on holiday. Now understandably to save space, Burda have had to put all the patterns on top of each other in different colours, and you have to trace out the one you want to use. Simples! Or NOT - take a look at this example of one part of the pattern:



Horrible, isn't it! The biggest problem is actually finding the piece you want in the first place - after that, not so bad. Anyway, my pillowcase was slightly narrower than the pattern called for, but I thought it'd be fiiiiiiiine and just went ahead anyway :D

I centred the pattern around where the sequin flower was, so that it'd be sat nicely on the bottom hem of the top, and went from there.


...and here's the final product! I really must learn to be more photogenic, if that can be learned - or at least look a bit happier about wearing this! A bit baggy in style, and a bit longer than I would have probably chosen, but it will do very nicely for a slight hint of glamour on holiday, maybe for wear to a restaurant one evening?

Just the facts...
Fabric: one pillowcase, it rings a bell that I picked this up a couple of years ago for 20p at a car boot sale, but I couldn't swear to it!
Pattern: Burda magazine June 2012, view 118A
Year: Contemporary
Notions: 35"ish elastic for the back and sides up to the halterneck(from stash - donated a while ago by my lovely mother); ribbon for the drawstring (from stash - donated in a tin of goodies by my grandma, happened to be a perfect match in colour!)
Time to complete: 2-3 hours, most of which was deciphering and tracing the pattern!
First worn: Other than the photo, for my hols next week!
Wear again? Yes!
Total cost: Basically nothing - unless you include the price of the magazine, and the 20p pillow case!