Copying Burda

Oh,  how I wanted that Burda dress that kept popping up on blogs some time back.  You know - the Burda dress with the pleated tulip skirt and  the boat neck and the 3/4 sleeves.  One small problem - no Burda pattern.  So the dream remained a dream until such time as I decided that I really merited a new dress given that I had not one, but two parties to go to in one day!   ( One was a tenth anniversary party in a restaurant, the other an open house on the occasion of a 50th birthday.)  This decision had me rummaging through my pattern collection last week-end, and this is what I pulled out.
The 1980's dress  - the bodice, given that it was simple enough, with only two darts in the front and two in the back.  The neckline was also similar to the Burda, or at least close enough.  Unfortunately, the sleeves on this one start rather high up on the shoulder.  Enter the other dress pattern for sleeves and armscye.  Not quite right when I made up the dress - not to worry - one blouse pattern available with just the right sleeve width.  Fixed that problem.  For the skirt - (who'd a thunk!) the skirt pattern!  View F to be exact.  Perfect.  Oh, except maybe for the fact that as beautifully as the front bodice and skirt front mated - the skirt back was way too big for the back bodice.  That was an easy fix, though - just chopped off the excess amount along the back seam of the skirt, and all was well.
Now you can judge for yourselves if I'm even close.

Front

Back

 The fabric is a dark navy poly crepe.  Not an utterly gorgeous fabric, but not bad.  It's best feature would probably be its washability and wrinkle resistance.  It was quite comfortable for all day wear, and I was very much at ease, knowing that should anything spill on it, cleaning it up would be a breeze.  With poly fabrics I find pressing to be a bit of a challenge, and this one seemed determined to leave marks at edges of seam allowances, etc., no matter what.  Sometimes you just have to ignore certain imperfections to get on with the project.  Let's just leave it at the fact that I could not have possibly expected this to behave as a fine silk or wool.
And I suppose you'll be wanting to see "this is how I wore this" photo, so in between parties, while popping home to let the dog out (one does have to remember about the needs of those who guard our homes while we're out having fun), I did manage to snap a picture.

with "demon dog"

So there you have it.  I had my dress in time for "the ball".  Let me just add that it was definitely a very big help that the clocks were being changed back from daylight savings - I had a whole extra hour to sew on Saturday night!  (Is that called self-delusion?)