Saturday 21 April 2018

Burda's Easy's two Spring-Summer shirts for 2018

I always keep an eye out for Burda Easy's seasonal signal as to the shirt/blouse silhouette of the summer, (reduced to its simplest interpretation for beginners,) e.g. two summers ago, they gave variations of the off-the-shoulder ruffled Carmen top/jumpsuit/dress.
Last year, that morphed into a blouse/dress version of the ubiquitous 'cold-shoulder' tank with straps and a wide droopy ruffle.
This year, the first of Burda Easy's two basic tops is this:

These look to me like variations of a traditional Japanese farmer's wrap-top with the very wide belt referencing an obi-style waist. Notice, these are not meant for soft knit fabrics, but crisper wovens which give the right pert sleeveless effect. To me, the shirt version looks practical and  refreshing, with wide sleeves (blue version, below) or without, (white version, above.)

BUT I find the lime dress version looks too simple a design for daywear, resembling a hotel massage wrapper or beach coverup. Maybe that's avoidable by opting for the drawstring sleeves (the sprigged blue dress above.)


Anyway, I dyed some cheap IKEA white cotton dark-blue with a Japanese tie-dye effect (thanks to some strategic rubber bands) and have cut out my sleeved version of the shirt. Below are some inspiration photos as I get sewing.


Have no fear, Burda Easy thinks shoulders can still be worn 'cold' this spring, if you like, but my experience with Burda's second summer 2018 top/dress—this one for knits—is that this kind of neckline doesn't stay put. I sewed this similar design from Vogue Patterns

many years ago which presented this problem. As soon as you lift your arms, the bateau neckline bounces up and becomes a cowl. Anybody know how to avoid this? Maybe by tacking the collar down at the sides somehow?