Autumn Print Burda Easy Dress - Bobbin Tangle

This is the first dress I made out of viscose. The fabric has a lovely drape, doesn't crease a lot during wear and breathes. No more overheating in the office. Now I have discovered that I can wear long sleeve dresses - viscose is perfect.

This is the first time I sewed shaped raglan shoulders. I thought it would be overly fussy to sew, but that wasn't the case. As long as you add a perpendicular offset when adding your seam allowance, it works very well.

I used stitch-in-the ditch from the outside over the visible seams to secure the neck facing to the inside. I also added a single sparkly button to the centre front to keep the facing firmly inside.

If you wear glasses and struggle to focus on lines that are overlaid, like I do, you will find Burda Easy patterns much easier to work with. The patterns are printed single-side only.

I think the finished dress does look a lot like that in the magazine - I find that often when the models in the photos are much slimmer than I - the clothes look very different. This pattern really does fall straight - once you get rid of the static - for some reason my dress has a lot of static and clung like cling-film. Quite funny - I discovered how much static when I took off my padded coat with polyester lining - it was almost like a second skin. I recommend no stockings, anti-static spray, fabric softener or a slip - especially in colder weather when an overcoat is necessary.

When laid on the table, the sleeve looks really plain, but it really has a lovely flare, due to a combination of the drape of viscose and the fact that wrists are slimmer than your forearm - it looks more like a sleeve on a princess dress.

I had a rather stressful time at one stage, my stitches kept tangling and creating excess thread loops on the underside of the fabric.

I'm not sure how easily you can see in the picture, but it turns out that the problem was due to the plastic bobbin being worn - I checked it against new plastic bobbins and the original metal bobbins, and the plastic one is clearly worn. I changed over to a metal bobbin and the machine definitely ran a little quieter and smoother. It's really the last thing you'd think of. I checked and reset the bobbin tension, the upper stitch tension, changed the needle and was literally at my wits' end. I even took the whole bobbin assembly apart...

I oiled my machine and reassembled it and... It carried on producing looped tangles.

Eventually, I thought.... I'd checked everything, and there was possibly only one more thing to try, before considering buying a new bobbin casing and shuttle assembly. I thought I would rewind the thread onto a metal bobbin - what did I have to lose? I put the whole assembly back in the machine with the metal bobbin and the stitches came out perfect. It turns out, that if you will be doing a lot of sewing, plastic bobbins are not really cheaper if they are essentially consumable parts... At least I know what I will check first if I have this problem again... 

Hopefully, I can save you the same frustration - it took the best part of an hour of precious sewing time for me to figure out the problem.

Frustrations aside, the dress was very easy to cut out and sew. I neatened all seams with my overlocker as I sewed each seam. It really does give a neater finish and viscose really does need finishing off, as it has a tendency to fray and any sharp cuts, like notches, are liable to tear into your garment if not properly finished.

I made the belt to go with the dress, but I actually prefer it without the belt. For my next project with a belt, I may consider a minor modification, where I will add darts to shape the front and add ties in the side seams to cinch it in at the waist. I have a couple of dresses and jumpsuit with that detail and I think it's a good alternative. I will experiment, in any case.

I am falling in love with viscose - in fact, I already have fabric washed and ready for my new project. I still need to trace out the pattern. I will keep you posted.

To see this on YouTube when it goes live, visit: https://youtu.be/fzXge5UgO70

Let me know what you think.

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