When I saw the twisted bubble dress in Burda Style June 2012 issue I knew I wanted one. The only problem was that I had the pattern from the Russian issue. I do not speak Russian, so I wanted some instructions in English. That is why I used the ones I found on the Burdastyle website. 

So I got my fabric cut my pieces and started making it. Good idea to use some fabric I did not really like to make a mock first. And I am glad I did. It all went wrong, especially at the top. First you gather the fabric and then you sew it to the lining. I would make the casting for the elastic in the main fabric and not sewing together the lining with the main fabric, because if you do not use same colour fabric for both you’ll see the lining on the outside. It will ‘hit you in the eye’. Also I would make pleats rather than gathering the fabric, it will look better I think and will not be messy. I ended up turning the casting over to the inside and hand stitching it to the lining to hide the contrast between them. 

Constructing the dress, I made a mistake and ended with a tube I could not turn over so there were no exposed seams. But I like the dress so much that I decided to cut the lining at the bottom ( Lazy of me: should have unpicked the darn thing, but stretch stitching is a nightmare to unpick) and had sewing it back together once turned over. I thought that it will just make the dress shorter, just as I wanted it, as I am petite. 

I managed to finish it. I can honestly I managed to save it, but it still have it defects. the inside is messy at best. I do not even dare to show you pictures of it. Even though the top looks much better some times you can still see the lining. Why did I use cream colour, that is the question? Well I don not want to dwell on it any more.

I used some back lace to make the sash to create some contrast.

If you intend to make this dress, I suggest to make the casting from the main fabric. Maybe use a band of fabric as long as the finished length of the top plus seam allowance at each end by say 5 cm (1.5cm seam allowance on both ends lengthways and 2 cm for the casting it self). Gather the top, sew sides together, then sew band to the gathered top, sew the casting (remembering to leave a gap to insert the elastic)and then sew all this to the lining. This should prevent the lining from showing when you are wearing the dress.

Do not follow the instructions on Burdastyle website, I was more confused by them. They are very badly translated from German. If you are lucky and have the June 2011 issue of Burda Style magazine in English, hopefully they are better.

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