by Max Donos In the depths of winter, one could always dream of sun, warmth, beautiful times and enchanting destinations. Sincerely, we missed travelling, exploring new places and soaking in the culture. But we could always dream and plan a little, like updating our travel wardrobe to include a versatile safari dress, to take you from the streets of Verona to a soirée in Lyon.
Today, I present to you my vision of a stylish urban safari dress, courtesy of Burda 6440 pattern. This dress is made in fabulous printed chambray similar to Silky Denim Look Print and complemented by silver snaps. It is perfect for a chic safari in any urban setting.
Overall, the pattern is quite genius. The dress cinches at the waist with a built-in wide belt, the pleats on the bodice and skirt, both front and back, provide ample ease, and the elbow length sleeve could be rolled up and secured with straps. I did not change a thing, and the result is striking!
Straps and pockets
There are a few pattern pieces requiring interfacing, like collar, straps, flaps and facing. As customary, the pattern has 15mm seam allowance, which is normally not an issue. However, as in the picture above, large seam allowances on small details had to be trimmed. Moreover, I had a hard time attaching the collar into the neckline, because these large seam allowances were in the way. For accuracy and to make your life easier, I would suggest trimming them down in the pattern pieces themselves.
The patch pockets have a clever construction, with lining, which hides the raw edges, so you end up with “clean” pockets inside. The instructions don’t specify the distance the flaps are supposed to be from the pockets. So, tread carefully and baste before trimming and sewing anything permanently.
If you opt for real buttons, get ready, as you need a whopping 20! I could not swallow making 20 buttonholes, so I decided to install metal snaps. It still took me a good hour to install them!
